§ 1. Mr. Errollasked the Minister of Fuel and Power in view of the importance to the national economy of the early and uninterrupted operation of the Margam Strip Mill, what steps he is taking to ensure now that there will no power cuts applied to this undertaking.
§ Mr. P. Noel-BakerMargam is connected with Llynfi power station by two 66 kilowatt lines, and a third is now under construction. Any two of these lines can supply the power which the mill requires; two of them are direct from the power station to the mill. In addition, the Margam authorities are installing three private generating sets, with a total capacity of 18 megawatts; these sets will use waste heat, and will provide an emergency reserve of power, if the grid supply should fail.
The work at Margam is a continuous process, and it is the policy of the electricity boards to exempt continuous process plants from power cuts, until all other measures have been taken.
New stations are being built, and existing stations extended in South Wales; the total additional capacity will be 735 megawatts, of which 255 megawatts will be commissioned within the next 12 or 18 months. This, I hope, will greatly reduce the risk of power cuts.