UK to keep carbon limit high enough for gas plants

Britain's energy minister promised on Saturday to keep the limit on power plants' carbon emissions high enough until 2045 to ensure that modern gas-fired stations can continue to operate. The government will submit its full proposals to reform Britain's electricity market to Parliament in May, marking the first step to enshrine the deepest overhaul of the market in 30 years into law.

The previous draft had proposed that the limit on carbon emissions allowed per plant would be reviewed over time. Developers of gas-fired plants were concerned their power stations could be scrapped if the limit was reduced below a level they could meet. UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey guaranteed that a proposed level of 450g of carbon per kilowatt-hour (g/kWh) of electricity would be maintained until 2045. State-of-the-art gas plants emit less than 400 g/kWh, while coal-fired plants without carbon-capture technology emit nearly 800 g/kWh.