EU EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME – STATIONARY INSTALLATIONS
Directive 2003/87/EC requires that installations that perform certain categories of industrial activities participate in the EU ETS. If you are an operator of a stationary installation performing any such activity, please refer to the information on this page on what you need to do to meet your obligations.
Scope – Annex I to the EU ETS Directive
Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC lists the activities and gases that are covered by the EU ETS. The list of activity categories stipulates both the type of the activity and the relevant threshold for each activity, as applicable.
You should always refer to the competent authority in case of any doubts on the interpretation of any activity category listed in Annex I to the EU ETS Directive or clarifications that you may require on whether or not your installation falls within scope of the Directive.
Permitting of installations
Any installation that performs an activity listed in Annex I that results in emissions specified in the same Annex in relation to that activity must have a greenhouse gas emissions permit issued by MEPA. It is important to note that applying for and being issued a permit under the EU ETS Directive does not release you from acquiring any other relevant permit under other environmental legislation. You should always check with the relevant competent authorities about other permitting requirements.
If you are an operator of an installation performing an activity falling under Annex I, you should apply for a greenhouse gas emissions permit. Check with the Competent Authority for the applicable procedure to apply for this permit. The Authority will provide you with an application form template and guidance to aid you in completing the form.
Register of installations permitted under Directive 2003/87/EC
Permit Number
| Installation Name
| Operator
|
| MT – 1 | Marsa Power Station
| Enemalta Corporation
|
| MT – 2 | Delimara Power Station
| Enemalta Corporation
|
Allocation – Phase I and II National Allocation Plans
To date, allocation of allowances to operators of stationary installations in Malta is free of charge. For each of the two trading periods to date, 2005-2007 and 2008-2012, Malta had to prepare a National Allocation Plan in which it determined the total quantity of allowances to be allocated to the installations operating within the scheme and then allocated the allowances among the different installations. The NAPs, drawn up based on the criteria set out in Annex III to the Directive and other relevant Commission guidance are approved by the European Commission.
The plans describe in detail the manner in which both the total quantity of allowances and the distribution between the individual installations were determined, together with rules for the treatment of new entrants or closure of installations. It should be noted that Malta did not allow banking of allowances between the first and second trading period. Banking is allowed between subsequent periods. The banking and borrowing of allowances between individual years in the same period is also allowed. Furthermore, as required by the EU ETS Directive, a limit is set on the use by operators of emission reduction units derived from Kyoto Protocol project mechanism projects.
The approved plans are:
National Allocation Plan 2005-2007
National Allocation Plan 2008-2012
Allocation for Phase III – 2013 to 2020
For the period 2013-2020 and subsequent periods, the allocation of allowances to stationary installations will be carried out in accordance to harmonized EU-wide rules, involving both auctioning and free allocation on the basis of agreed benchmarks. In principle, electricity generation plants falling within the scope of the EU ETS Directive are not eligible to any free allowances and would necessarily have to acquire allowances to cover compliance needs through auctioning and/or purchase on the emissions trading market.
The respective free allocations for the local installations currently permitted under the scheme are being published in accordance with Article 11 of Directive 2003/87/EC, and are as follows:
Installation (permit number) | Allocation for period 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2020: allocation per annum | Allocation for period 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2020:
total allocation |
| Marsa Power Station (MT-1) | 0 | 0 |
| Delimara Power Station (MT-2) | 0 | 0 |
Monitoring of annual emissions
You are required to submit to the Competent Authority a monitoring and reporting plan describing the means by which you will be monitoring your annual emissions. The monitoring and reporting plan has to be approved by the Competent Authority and will serve as the accepted methodology for your monitoring.
General monitoring and reporting principles are provided in Annex IV to Directive 2003/87/EC while a more detailed description of monitoring and reporting requirements may be found in Decision 2007/589/EC establishing guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC.
Please ask the Competent Authority to provide you with the relevant template for the submission of your monitoring and reporting plan and any guidance you may need to complete the template. If submitting an application for a greenhouse gas emission permit for the first time, your first monitoring and reporting plan should be submitted with the permit application. You are also required to immediately notify the Competent Authority of any substantial changes that you may need to make to your approved monitoring regime.
Reporting of annual emissions
Directive 2003/87/EC provides for an obligation for operators of installations falling within scope of the EU ETS to annually submit verified emission reports – the deadline for submission of each (calendar) year’s report is 31 March of the following year. That is, for the monitoring year 2008, the emissions report must be submitted by not later than 31 March 2009.
Reports shall be verified by a competent, independent, accredited verifier before being submitted to the Competent Authority. The verifier you engage will check for inconsistencies with the approved monitoring plan and will assess whether there are any misstatements in the report. The verifier shall then prepare a report stating whether the emissions report you have prepared is satisfactory. This report should accompany the emissions report when this is submitted to the Competent Authority. General principles and the verification methodology to be applied are described in Annex V to Directive 2003/87/EC.
Register of annual verified emission reports of Maltese installationsPeriod 2005-2007
Year | Marsa Power Station | Delimara Power station |
Allocation | Emissions | Allocation | Emissions |
2005 | 1,124,985 | 1,159,927 | 960,617 | 811,331 |
2006 | 1,123,631 | 1,175,288 | 1,043,670 | 810,477 |
2007 | 1,122,278 | 1,213,460 | 1,163,294 | 813,904 |
| Note: All reported emissions have been accounted for by surrendering of equivalent amount of allowances. |
Period 2008-2012
Year | Marsa Power Station | Delimara Power station |
Allocation | Emissions | Allocation | Emissions |
2008 | 1,100,256 | 1,043,935 | 1,007,581 | 974,650 |
2009 | 1,095,617 | 961,727 | 1,025,836 | 935,386 |
2010 | 1,090,977 | 969,152 | 1,068,383 | 909,155 |
2011 | 1,086,338 | ---- | 1,081,667 | --- |
2012 | 1,081,699 | ---- | 1,076,951 | --- |
| Note: All reported emissions have been accounted for by surrendering of equivalent amount of allowances. |
Accounting for emissions
As an operator of an installation participating in the EU emissions trading scheme you are required to surrender an amount of allowances equivalent to the quantity of actual emissions reported in you annual emission reports. This procedure is carried out through your registry account.
The allowances applicable for your installation for a particular year are issued into the installation’s account by the Registry Administrator on 28 February of that year. Surrendering of allowances in respect of reported emissions for the previous year has to take place by not later than 30 April – thus, for the reported emissions for the calendar year 2008, allowances must be surrendered by not later than 30 April 2009 with allowances in respect of 2009 being issued into the installation’s account by 28 February 2009.
Further information on the registry system may be found in section REGISTRY
If you find that your allocation of allowances is less than what you will need to account for all of your actual emissions, you can either reduce emissions from your activity through various applicable emission reducing measures, or purchase additional allowances. If, instead, you find that your allocation of allowances is greater than what you require to account for all your activity’s actual emissions, you can sell excess allowances. You can trade in several ways, including by trading directly with other companies participating in the EU ETS, buying from or selling to intermediaries, using the services of a broker or join an exchange that lists carbon trading products such as allowances.
You may also “borrow” allowances from the subsequent year to cover any shortfall in allowances during a particular year; excess allowances may also be “banked” to the following year.
You may also use credits generated from projects established under the Kyoto Protocol flexible mechanisms. The limit for the period in question may be found in the NAP for that period. There are two types of credits that you may use, and which can be acquired by purchasing through the carbon market: Certified Emission Reduction units (CERs) which are generated through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Emission Reduction Units (ERUs) which are generated through Joint Implementation (JI) projects.
For each tonne of CO2 equivalent reported for which you do not surrender an allowance you are liable to pay a penalty of €100 as required by the Directive. Payment of this excess emission penalty however does not release you from the obligation to surrender an amount of allowances equal to the quantity of emissions for which allowances were not surrendered when surrendering allowances in relation to the following year.
Implementation Timeline
This chart gives a diagrammatic overview of the principal timeframes and deadlines related to monitoring and reporting obligations that you have as an operator of a stationary installation, and to accounting of emissions. You should always ensure that you meet the deadlines as stipulated by the relevant legislation.
(Source: MEPA)