§ 50. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Energy what is the estimated total of power coal reserves in England, Scotland, and Wales, respectively; and what these reserves represent in years of supply at current rates of consumption.
§ Mr. EadieThe latest estimate of known recoverable United Kingdom coal reserves as published in the 1974 World Energy Conference Survey Report was 3,800 million tons. The NCB latest assessment of economically recoverable coal suitable for electricity generation accessible to existing collieries indicate that reserves are in the region of 1,450 million tons of which 1,254 million tons are in England and 196 million tons are in Scotland. Power stations in Wales are designed to use local coal which is not normally classified as power coal.
Existing knowledge of total coal in the ground indicates that, with suitably large investment, supplies could be made available to meet demand at current rate of consumption for an indefinite period.