§ Mr. Lubbockasked the Minister of Power if he will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table showing the maximum demand on the Central Electricity Generating Board system in megawatts sent out, actual for the years 1950 to 1968, inclusive, and estimated for the years 1970 to 1975, inclusive; and if for the latter years he will give the estimated capacity of new plant to be commissioned and old plant taken out of service, respectively.
§ Mr. FreesonThe actual simultaneous maximum demands met by the C.EG.B. 33W system (or its equivalent) in winters from 1950–51 to 1967–68 were as follows:
Winter Megawatts 1950–51 … … 10,630 1951–52 … … 11,590 1952–53 … … 12,601 1953–54 … … 14,282 1954–55 … … 15,370 1955–56 … … 16,703 1956–57 … … 17,668 1957–58 … … 19,311 1958–59 … … 20,899 1959–60 … … 23,089 1960–61 … … 24,445 1961–62 … … 27,020 1962–63 … … 29,520 1963–64 … … 29,937 1964–65 … … 31,328 1965–66 … … 33,358 1966–67 … … 33,973 1967–68 … … 35,818 The Electricity Council's latest forecast of the simultaneous maximum demand in the winter of 1973–74 is 54,000 megawatts; the Council do not publish forecasts for intervening or later years.
The C.E.G.B.'s programmes for commissioning of new plant in the years 1970 to 1972 are as follows:
Calendar year Megawatts sent out 1970 … … … 3,100 1971 … … … 2,260 1972 … … … 2,320 Programmes beyond 1972 have not yet been settled and will depend on decisions yet to be taken about new power station orders. The amount of old plant to be taken out of service will depend on prospective margins of plant capacity over demand: decisions are taken only a year or two in advance.