§ Mr. Home Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many tonnes of coal have been burned at power stations in Scotland during each of the past 12 months; what is the maximum possible monthly coal burn; and how many tonnes of power station coal are now in stock.
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherOnly stations within the South of Scotland electricity board area are coal-fired. The548W information in the table gives details of power station coal consumption between April 1982 and March 1983, which is the latest full year figures available.
The boards operate their generating plant in the interests of economy and efficiency; for these reasons the maximum output is dependent on demand and or the availability of plant. As can be seen from the table the actual coal burn figures vary throughout the year. At 31 March 1983 there wre 2,340 million tonnes of coal held in stock at power stations in Scotland.
Month Tonnes 1982 April 567,287 May 581,395 June 616,423 July 358,512 August 326,041 September 345,911 October 335,181 November 330,969 December 576,927 1983 January 329,249 February 458,942 March 419,713