HC Deb 30 January 1989 vol 146 cc7-8
7. Mr. Norris

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what assessment he has made of the potential for generating electricity from waste burning.

Mr. Michael Spicer

There is great uncertainty about projections for renewable sources of energy. We estimate that by the year 2025 up to 4.5 per cent. of current energy requirements might come from biomass if the diverse technologies involved can be successfully developed and applied.

Mr. Norris

Does my hon. Friend agree that as environmental concerns are rightly at the top of the agenda these days, biomass power generation offers two marvellous possibilities—first, the generation of power without recourse to primary fossil fuel extraction and, secondly, an opportunity to dispose of waste in a way infinitely more environmentally desirable than conventional landfill methods? Will my hon. Friend therefore commit the Department to an even more vigorous study of the ways in which biomass power generation can be enhanced?

Mr. Spicer

Yes, I agree with my hon. Friend. We already spend £1.5 million a year on research into biomass and there have been some successful outcomes of that research. I recently visited an example just north of Birmingham, which is planning to produce about 3 MW of electricity from methane.

Mr. Dalyell

On waste burning, could the Minister, whom I have always found helpful in such matters, call for an urgent report on the situation at Polkemmet and Wilsontown where Dixon's pit is suffering from ever-growing subterranean fires, with the result that sulphur emissions are becoming a major environmental problem throughout central Scotland? The Scottish Office is doing its best, but this is an extremely serious situation.

Mr. Spicer

I will, of course, look into the matter and see what lies behind it.