The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) is a mandatory emissions trading scheme for non energy-intensive organisations in the public and private sector which starts in April 2010. Emissions from activities covered by a Climate Change Agreement or the EU Emissions Trading System are not covered by the CRC.
Organisations required to participate fully in the CRC must purchase allowances equivalent to their emissions each year (as well as recording and monitoring their CO2 emissions). Organisations will be required to participate fully in the CRC if they (and their subsidiaries) have at least one half-hourly electricity meter (HHM) settled on the half-hourly market and if their total half-hourly electricity consumption exceeded 6,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) during 2008.
If an organisation operates an electricity generation process from renewable sources and no ROCs or Feed in Tariffs (FITs) are claimed it may be able to claim 'electricity credits'. Any electricity credits can be subtracted from CRC emissions - meaning you have to buy fewer allowances.
Organisations generating electricity using CHP are generally treated like any other heat or electricity production. Electricity credits can be claimed for electricity exported to other users or to the grid, or where they are supplied to the same organisation. However as all imports and exports of heat from a CHP plant are counted as having zero emissions in CRC, credits cannot be claimed for any heat exported.
The main points of interest to those operating an EfW plant are:
• Where waste is used as an input fuel into an energy generation process, a participant will need to report the quantity of waste used, using the waste emissions factor listed in the regulations.
• If electricity is generated from waste to use onsite, this will need to be reported under CRC, according to general 'self-supply' rules.
• Electricity credit can be claimed, both for the exported electricity and that used in the organisation.
• If waste is the primary input fuel in a CHP plant, the waste input must be reported in the same way as for other electricity generation processes.
• If ROCs are issued for an EfW plant then electricity credits cannot be claimed for this electricity.
More details of the CRC can be found in the scheme guidance17.
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17http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what we do/lc uk/crc/user guidance/user guidance.aspx