§ 56. Mr. McMasterasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of electricity generating stations in Great Britain and Northern Ireland is oil-fired and what percentage coal-fired; and how many are dual-purpose or capable of being adapted from oil-burning to coal-burning and what would be the cost of such conversion.
§ Mr. EmerySome 64 per cent. of publicly owned generating in the United Kingdom is coal-fired and 20 per cent. is oil-fired. Of the remainder one station—Kingsnorth—is dual-fired on coal/oil306W and two stations—Hams Hall C and West Thurrock—are dual-fired on gas/coal. These dual-fired stations amount to only 5 per cent. of the total capacity.
For technical reasons, stations built to burn oil cannot be converted to coal firing. Where coal-fired stations have been converted to burn oil the practicability and cost of readapting them to burn coal depends on a large number of different factors.