§ Mr. LeslieTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement about the potential for combined heat and power after 2000. [12242]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Government are committed to increasing the UK's combined heat and power capacity beyond the previous Administration's target of 5,000 MW by 2000. A detailed review of the potential for CHP, carried out for my Department by the environment technology support unit, has now been published, and I will be placing a copy in the Library. The ETSU review indicates the cost-effective potential for CHP in industry, commerce and the public sector as being between 10,000 and 17,000 MW, depending on the assumptions made on future energy prices, users' required rate of return on investment, and other factors. The review does not cover additional CHP in the housing and community heating sectors, or the growth in renewable fuelled CHP, both of which are being separately reviewed.
The Government are now reviewing their detailed CHP target for 2010, and will be consulting the Combined Heat and Power Association and others with an interest. They will make further detailed announcement as part of the new UK climate change programme, to be developed after the Kyoto conference.