§ Lord Brettasked Her Majesty's Government:
In the light of the run-down of a major part of the nuclear industry by 2006, consequential upon the closing of Magnox and AGR power stations, what will be the resultant loss of capacity for producing electric power; and how will the shortfall be made up. [HL1178]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleHer Majesty's Government's most recent set of energy projections— reported in Energy Paper 68, available in the Library of the House—embodies the assumption that nuclear capacity falls by around 1 gigawatt by 2005 and 3 gigawatts by 2010, compared with the current level of around 13 gigawatts. Figures for other years are not available. New generating capacity is expected to be added in the shape of combined cycle gas turbines and renewables. The nature of the replacement capacity will of course ultimately be a matter for the market, taking account of future expected trends in costs for different technologies.