Cases and circumstances when a NIROC must not be issued
8. After Article 18 (generating stations first commissioned before 1st January 1990) insert—
“Generating stations accredited for longer than 20 years
18A.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), NIROCs are not to be issued in respect of any electricity generated—
(a)by an existing generating station, after 31st March 2027;
(b)by a new generating station, on or after the 20th anniversary of the date on which it was accredited or 31st March 2033 (whichever is the earlier).
(2) Where, at the time it generates electricity, a generating station’s total installed capacity is greater than its original capacity, paragraph (1) applies only in relation to NIROCs which are to be issued in respect of electricity generated using the station’s original capacity.
(3) In relation to the remainder of the electricity generated by the generating station, NIROCs are not to be issued in respect of any electricity generated on or after the 20th anniversary of the date on which, in the Authority’s view, the additional capacity first formed part of the station or 31st March 2033 (whichever is the earlier).
(4) Where electricity generated by a generating station using additional capacity added at a particular time (“relevant additional capacity”) is not measured separately from—
(a)electricity generated by it using additional capacity (if any) which was added to it at a different time, or
(b)electricity generated by it using its original capacity,
the electricity generated by it which is to be treated (for the purposes of paragraph (3)) as having been generated using the relevant additional capacity is the relevant percentage (the relevant percentage for these purposes being the relevant additional capacity at the date of generation of the electricity expressed as a percentage of the station’s total installed capacity at that date).
(5) In this article—
“existing generating station” means a generating station which was accredited as at 25th June 2008;
“new generating station” means a generating station which was accredited after 25th June 2008;
“original capacity”, in relation to a generating station, means—
in the case of an existing generating station, the capacity of the station as accredited and any additional capacity which (in the Authority’s view) formed part of the station by 25th June 2008;
in the case of a new generating station, the capacity of the station as accredited.”.