§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the initiatives undertaken by her Department since its inception to promote combined heat and power. [104552]
§ Mr. MorleySince the inception of this Department, we have added to existing measures in support of our target of at least 10,000 megawatts of installed Good Quality CHP by 2010 as follows
Extension of the Climate Change Levy exemption to all Good Quality CHP electricity outputs;Eligibility of leased assets for Enhanced Capital Allowances;Reduction in VAT on certain grant-funded domestic micro-CHP installations to 5 per cent. andThe £50 million, 2-year, Community Energy grant programme.Additionally, we will introduce the following new support measures announced in the recently published Energy White Paper:
require significant evidence that power station consent applicants have considered all economically viable options for CHP and community heating;emphasise the benefits of CHP and community heating whenever planning or sustainable development guidance is introduced or reviewed;work with Ofgem to ensure a level playing field under NETA for smaller generators, including CHP;set targets for use of CHP in the Government Estate;explore incentivising CHP within any expansion of the domestic Energy Efficiency Commitment from 2005;support field trials designed to evaluate the benefits of micro-CHP;invite the Energy Saving Trust and the Carbon Trust to review their current and future programmes to ensure they reinforce delivery of our CHP target; andwork on a framework for pilot projects within the UK Emissions Trading Scheme for which CHP projects may be eligible.
§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is in respect of the introduction of a combined heat and power obligation. [104553]
§ Mr. MorleyDetailed consideration of a CHP Obligation has concluded that it would not provide carbon savings in a cost-effective way. We are aware of widespread industry support for such an obligation to help achieve our 2010 target of at least 10,000 megawatts of installed Good Quality CHP. Although we believe the target to be challenging we still believe it is within reach. Together with those measures already in place, the measures announced in the Energy White Paper will help reinforce its achievement.
§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the ability of the private sector to achieve the targets for combined heat and power contained in the Energy White Paper. [104556]
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§ Mr. MorleyMinisterial meetings with the CHP industry together with responses to last year's draft CHP Strategy consultation exercise provide a good insight into the ability of the private sector to help us achieve our target of at least 10,000 megawatts of installed Good Quality CHP by 2010. These meetings and the consultation responses formed an important input to the CHP measures in the Energy White Paper which, together with those measures already introduced, will help reinforce achievement of the CHP target.
§ David DavisTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made on the Government's target to double the present capacity of CHP to 10,000MWe by 2010. [105286]
§ Mr. MorleyAt the end of 2001, installed CHP capacity had risen to 4801 MWe from 4632MWe the previous year. More up to date data on the progress made to meet the Government's target of 10,000MWe of installed Good Quality CHP will become available when the annual Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) is published in July 2003 by DTI. We believe that the CHP support measures detailed in the draft CHP Strategy taken together with the measures recently announced in the Energy White Paper have the potential to significantly help the CHP industry and set us on course to meet the 2010 target.