Rules on combustion plants

Does your company have a combustion plant? Or are you having a combustion plant installed? If so, you must comply with the rules for air emissions, measurements, inspections, and maintenance. These rules are set out in the Environmental Activities Decree (Bal). For some activities, you need an environment and planning permit.

What is a combustion plant?

Combustion plants (in Dutch) include:

• waste incinerators
• generators
• dryers
• furnaces
• gas turbines
• heaters
• boilers
• air heaters
• engines
• oven

Emission and measurement requirements

Combustion plants are subject to emission requirements (in Dutch). You must measure the emissions from your combustion plant (meetverplichting). You must have your measurements checked by an accredited measurement body or a certified company (SCIOS scope 6, in Dutch). This is how you show that you meet the emission requirements. Emission requirements vary based on the power output of the combustion plant and the fuel type:

• large combustion plants (50 MWth or more, in Dutch)
• small and mid-sized combustion plants using conventional fuels (up to 50 MWth, in Dutch)
• mid-sized combustion plants using non-standard fuels (1 to 50 MWth, in Dutch)
• waste incinerators (in Dutch)

There are some exceptions (in Dutch) for special situations. Use the BalEes tool (in Dutch) to check which emission requirements your combustion plant must comply with. You can use the CalComEmis tool (in Dutch) to calculate your combustion emissions.

Inspections and maintenance

The rules for inspection and maintenance of large combustion plants (in Dutch) are tailored to specific operating situations and are included in the environment and planning permit. You are obliged to have small and mid-sized combustion plants (in Dutch) inspected by a company with a SCIOS certificate (in Dutch). If the installation uses a non-standard fuel, the inspection is included as a permit requirement. There are no inspection and maintenance rules for waste incineration plants (in Dutch).

Environment and planning permit and notification requirement

Do you want to burn non-standard fuels? Or do you want to discharge cooling water? If so, you may need a permit. Go to the online service counter Omgevingsloket (in Dutch) to check if you need an environment and planning permit (omgevingsvergunning). You can then use the Omgevingsloket to apply online for this permit or submit a notification.

Find more information on how to apply and which documents you need to send in the Environmental Regulation (in Dutch).

Do you need to provide information to the competent authority? You can see when these rules apply to you in Chapters 2, 4 and 5 of the Environmental Activities Decree.