HC Deb 24 July 1996 vol 282 cc474-5W
Mr. William Ross

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the generation targets for Northern Ireland from non-fossil fuel sources for the 15 years following inception of the scheme; what amount of that generation has been installed to date; what was the original target; what amount of electricity is generated from each source at present; what is the forecast for generation until 2011; how much electricity has been available on average to date and what percentage of installed capacity this represents from each source; and what is the cost per unit of such electricity to (a) the customer and (b) Northern Ireland Electricity. [38622]

Mr. Ancram

[holding answer 22 July 1996]: Government established in 1993 a target of 45 MW of renewable plant by the year 2005. The first non-fossil fuel obligation order was made on 31 March 1994 requiring NTE to purchase 15.6 MW of renewable energy. Three renewable technologies; wind (12.6 MW), water (hydro) (2.4 MW) and sewage gas (0.5 MW) were for inclusion in the order. An announcement on the size and composition of a second NFFO order is expected to be made within the next few weeks.

To date, schemes with a declared net capacity of 10.8 MW—wind 10.5 MW and hydro 0.3 MW—have been installed. The wind schemes are currently generating 57 GWh per month; and the hydro schemes 0.1 GWh per month. These figures can vary significantly from month to month. The average monthly power produced by wind schemes since commissioning has been 47.0 GWh and by hydro schemes 0.06 GWh.

There will be 45 MW of electricity generated from renewable schemes by 2005. All such schemes will still be operational in 2011. It is not possible to predict the level of additional renewables capacity which may come on line between 2005 and 2011.

The installed capacity currently available from NFFP 1 is 24.7 MW—wind 98.8 per cent. and hydro 1.2 per cent.

The average cost of electricity contracted to NIE under the first NFFO order is approximately 6.0p/kWh. For consumers, when all schemes are commissioned, this will represent an increase of under 1 per cent. in electricity prices.