HC Deb 12 March 1968 vol 760 cc1158-9
Mr. McGuire

asked the Minister of Power what estimate his Department has made of the total coal which will be burnt annually in all coal-fired power stations when the last of the planned coal-fired power stations is commissioned.

Mr. Marsh

The last of the coal-fired power stations at present on order (Drax) should be commissioned in 1973. The Fuel Policy White Paper gives estimates of power station coal consumption in 1970 and 1975 from which it can be seen that the 1973 figure is expected to be about 65 million tons.

Mr. McGuire

Would my right hon. Friend not agree that what will happen is that, no matter how competitive coal becomes, there will be no places for it to burn? Would he not further agree, in view of the answers that he gave to my Question last week about the uncompetitiveness of nuclear energy as far as the 1970s, it is time that we recast the programme to give a better place to coal in the 1970s?

Mr. Marsh

I do not see why my hon. Friend should see any difficulty in finding places to burn coal. At the moment we have 13 coal-fired stations, totalling 21,600 megawatts, under construction.