UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Tom Sprange KC, Andrea Stauber, Martina Antosova and Lucy Pearson, King & Spalding International LLP
of performing the functions conferred on it by or under the Electricity Act 1989. • The licensee must prepare and publish a Consolidated Segmental Statement in relation to revenues, costs and profits of its activities on its website. • The licensee must not obtain an excessive benefit from electricity generation in relation to a Transmission Constraint Period. There are supplementary standard conditions that apply in Scotland, under Section C of the SLCs for electricity generation. The standard conditions may be modified by Ofgem when granting a licence (or subsequent- ly) and, in some cases, can be modified by the Secretary of State. 3.4 Eminent Domain, Condemnation and Expropriation Rights to Construct and Operate Generation Facilities There are no general eminent domain rights or similar for electricity generation facilities in the UK. The Secretary of State may, however, grant any licence holder the power to acquire land compulsorily under Schedule 3 of the Electricity Act 1989. In England, compulsory purchase in practice falls under the Planning Act 2008 DCO proce- dure. Standard Licence Condition 14 (3) restricts exer- cise of compulsory purchase powers to generat- ing stations of 50 MW or more. In Wales, compulsory purchase procedures apply to onshore wind (of any capacity) and other (non-wind) onshore generating stations of between 50 and 350 MW capacity (apart from
pumped storage, to which the Planning Act 2008 DCO regime applies). 3.5 Decommissioning a Generation Facility There are specific requirements for decommis- sioning nuclear power stations. There are two distinct decommissioning processes under the Energy Act 2008: • process for decommissioning existing nuclear power plants that were commissioned before 2008; and • process for decommissioning new nuclear power plants that were commissioned after 2008. Most of the UK’s existing fleet of nuclear power stations were built in the 1960s and 1970s and are nearing the end of their operational life. At present, seven power plants in the UK are being decommissioned at a cost of circa GBP23.5 billion, and most of the UK’s existing nuclear power stations will need to be decommissioned before 2030. The body responsible for decom- missioning nuclear power plants is the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The NDA is sponsored by DESNZ. Energy companies seeking to construct any new nuclear power stations must ensure that they have sufficient funds to cover the full costs of: • decommissioning their existing nuclear power stations; and • managing any radioactive waste produced by their power stations. This is known as the Funded Decommissioning Programme (FDP). Operators of new nuclear power stations are required to have an FDP approved by the Secretary of State and in place
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