§ Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what emissions were recorded for each power station in each year from 1998 to 2002; and what formula was used to allocate emission permits to each power station. [156102]
§ Mr. Morley: The Government has used the Department of Trade and Industry's updated energy projections (UEP) as a basis for calculating sectoral and installation level allocations for the power generation sector. The sector allocation is based on UEP projections of carbon dioxide less the amount the Government has decided power stations are to contribute to meeting national climate change targets and a portion to be set-aside for the New Entrants Reserve. This sectoral allocation is then allocated pro-rata to individual power stations according to historical emissions.
The power generation sectoral allocation was calculated using the following formula:
Average annual phase 1 allocation =
Average annual phase 1 emissions projections (147.8 MtCO2)
—Annual contribution to achieving EU ETS saving (5.5 MtCO2 by 2010^)
—Annual contribution to the New entry reserve (8.2%) i.e. Average annual phase 1 allocation
= 147.8–(1.8^)–[0.08*(147.8–1.8)]
= 134 million allowances
^Extrapolating back from 5.5MtCO2 in 2010, you get an average of 1.8MtCO2 saving over the three years of phase 1.
A significant proportion of the power generators have asserted that their historical emissions data is commercially confidential. We cannot publish the data without first consulting these operators and we have written to them seeking their views about the publication of this data. Subject to the response received from individual companies, I will write to the right hon. Member with the historical emissions data for power generators in the UK.