Air Pollution Control; Notification of the Operation or Commissioning of a Medium-Sized Combustion, Gas Turbine, or Internal Combustion Engine Facility

As the operator of a combustion plant (medium-sized combustion plant, gas turbine plant, or internal combustion engine plant) as defined in the Forty-Fourth Ordinance Implementing the Federal Immission Control Act (44th BImSchV) with a thermal capacity of at least 1 MW and less than 50 MW, you are required to notify the competent authority in writing or electronically of the intended operation prior to commissioning.

The operation of an existing combustion plant must be reported to the competent authority in writing or electronically by December 1, 2023.

The notification must contain the following information:

• Thermal capacity of the combustion plant (in megawatts)
• Type of combustion plant (diesel engine plant, gas turbine, dual-fuel engine plant, other engine plant, other combustion plant)
• Type of fuels used and their respective share of total energy input
• Date the combustion plant was commissioned
• The NACE code under which the activity is classified, in accordance with Annex I to Regulation (EC) No. 1893/2006
• Estimated number of annual operating hours of the combustion plant and average operating load
• if the provision for installations with few operating hours is invoked: a declaration signed by the operator stating that the combustion plant will not be in operation for more than the number of hours specified in those paragraphs
• if a provision for emergency operation is invoked: a declaration signed by the operator stating that the combustion plant will be in operation only in an emergency;
• Name and registered office of the operator, as well as the location of the plant, including the address
• Geographic coordinates of the stack and height above ground level

The report must be submitted in writing by mail or electronically to the competent authority.

After the notification has been reviewed, it will be entered into a facility registry (which can also be found under the “Forms and Information Sheets” section). The information contained in the facility registry is made publicly available in accordance with Section 36 of the 44th BImSchV and the provisions governing access to environmental information (Environmental Information Act—UIG). 

You are committing an administrative offense if you fail to file the report, or if you file it incorrectly, incompletely, not in the prescribed manner, or not on time.

The notification must be submitted before a new facility is put into operation.

The operation of an existing facility must be reported by December 1, 2023.

• if applicable, a statement signed by the operator certifying that the combustion plant will not be in operation for more than the specified number of hours
• if applicable, a statement signed by the operator stating that the combustion plant will be in operation only in an emergency

There are no costs involved.