The situation
A combustion plant and its operating permits
A regional utility runs a gas-fired combined heat and power plant in Linz, with 120 MW thermal input, and a smaller one near Košice. Both hold integrated permits. The new EHS lead found duty lists in two formats, last updated before the EU revised the industrial emissions rules.
The permits set each plant’s specific conditions. The law sets the rest: monitoring, reporting, changes that need approval, incidents and the periodic review of the permit. The hours go on bringing both into one register per plant that a shift manager can follow.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- The Industrial Emissions Directive frames the permit
- Large combustion plants need an integrated permit with emission limits based on best available techniques. The directive was revised in 2024, and the research confirms how each country has transposed the changes.
- Permits are reviewed when BAT conclusions change
- When new best-available-techniques conclusions are published for the sector, the authority must reconsider the permit conditions within a set period. The operator should expect requests for information during that review.
- Changes need notice or approval
- A planned change to the plant must be notified to the authority, and a substantial change needs a new or amended permit. National law sets what counts as substantial.
- Incidents are reported at once
- If an incident or a breach of permit conditions occurs, the operator must inform the authority immediately and take steps to limit the consequences and prevent further incidents.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Gas-fired CHP plants in Linz (120 MW thermal input) and near Košice, both under integrated permits. List the operator’s statutory duties under Austrian and Slovak law and the Industrial Emissions Directive: monitoring, reporting, changes, incidents and permit review.
You start with
A combustion plant and its operating permits
- 01
Upload the permits
Add both integrated permits. azta reads them and refers back to the condition behind each duty.
File upload· Pro - 02
Research the statutory duties
Ask what the law requires of the operator beyond the permit. azta searches the Industrial Emissions Directive and the Austrian and Slovak environmental legislation.
Cited research· Free - 03
Build the register
Ask for a register per plant: duty, source (permit or law), frequency and owner. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro - 04
Export for the plants
Export the register to Word for each plant manager’s sign-off.
Word export· Pro You send
A register of the operator’s statutory environmental duties, with owners
What you get
A register of the operator’s statutory environmental duties, with owners
Duty register · draft
Linz CHP plant: statutory environmental duties
Continuous duties. Monitor emissions as the permit requires and keep the records. Submit the annual report to the authority by the date in the permit. Owner: plant environmental officer.
Changes. Before any change to the boilers, fuel or flue-gas treatment, the environmental officer assesses whether it is a change to notify or a substantial change needing approval. No change is made until the EHS lead signs off that assessment.
Incidents and review. Report any incident or breach of permit conditions to the authority immediately, then in writing. When new BAT conclusions for large combustion plants are published, prepare for the authority’s review of the permit. Owner: EHS lead.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
18 minutes a month
At €90 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 29
- Capacity at your rate
- €2,592
- More permit duty registers a quarter
- 0.8
- Return on Pro
- 8×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoWhat stays with you
- The permit conditions, which you read from the permits themselves.
- Authority guidance and technical standards, which azta does not hold.
- Assigning owners and signing off the register.
Frequently asked questions
- Does azta hold environmental authorities’ guidance?
- For most countries it holds the legislation and EU law, not environmental authorities’ guidance. It shows what it cites, so you can see where guidance still needs checking.
- Does it hold the BAT conclusions?
- BAT conclusions are adopted as EU implementing decisions, so ask about them as EU law. The underlying reference documents are not legislation.
- Can it tell us when the law changes?
- Legislation is indexed daily and each citation shows its in-force status. Ask again before the register’s review date and compare the versions in the statute reader.
