HL Deb 28 March 1957 vol 202 cc949-50WA
VISCOUNT THURSO

asked Her Majesty's Government

  1. (1) what the capital cost of the experimental plant and power station at Braehour (Altnabreac) has proved to be, by how much the cost has exceeded the estimate, why the cost per kilowatt has proved to be £157 (as against the average for the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board of £56 per kilowatt) and why the cost of generation per kilowatt hour is 2.0d. to 2.3d. (as against the average for the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, of 0.64d. per kilowatt hour); and
  2. (2) whether they have considered the reasons for the high cost of electricity produced at the experimental plant and power station at Braehour; whether, in view of the importance of making full economic use of the peat resources of the Highlands, they hope to be able substantially to reduce these costs both at Braehour and in future schemes of the same kind; where further stations of the same kind are to be sited; and what expenditure is contemplated on them.

THE MINISTER OF STATE, SCOTTISH OFFICE (LORD STRATHCLYDK)

The Scottish Peat Committee, in paragraph 133 of their report published in 1954, gave the estimated capital cost for a peat-fired gas turbine project at Altnabreac in March, 1953, as £368,000, with an estimated generation cost of 1.9d. per unit. The revised estimated cost to date is about £430,000, the increase being due mainly to rises in prices of materials and wages and, to a lesser extent, to the incorporation of improvements in the gas turbine. A more accurate estimate will be possible when the gas turbine comes into operation, as expected, at the end of this year.

The Peat Committee's report explained that the small and experimental scale of operations with milled peat and a gas turbine at Altnabreac, which they recommended, was intended to provide information and practical experience before larger schemes were planned. In any subsequent larger scheme, production costs would be lower, and improvements might be expected as a result of the Altnabreac experiment.

The average cost per kilowatt of hydroelectric installations for the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board is not £56, but £175, as stated in a Parliamentary answer to the noble Lord, Lord Lucas of Chilworth, on January 22 last. The Hydro Board's average production costs per unit in 1956 were 0.64d. for hydro-electric stations, 0.93d. for steam and 1.89d. for diesel. It is estimated that the cost of production at a small diesel station built at to-day's prices would be over 2d. per unit.

As regards further operations, a programme of detailed surveys of the major peat deposits in Scotland is being carried out under the direction of the Scottish Peat Committee. The Committee's investigations also cover other posssible means of large-scale peat exploitation, such as production of solid fuel and the use of peat for firing conventional steam-boilered electricity generating plants, and the possibilities of land reclamation.