§ Mrs. BrintonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the power stations with FGD, indicating their capacity and the cost of installation of FGD in each case at current prices. [69065]
§ Mr. BattleThere are two power stations currently fitted with FGD abatement: Drax, owned by National Power plc with current registered capacity of 3,945 MW, and Ratcliffe, owned by PowerGen plc with a current registered capacity of 2034 MW.
48WIn the February 1995 prospectus for the sale of the Government's remaining shares in the two companies, National Power estimated the capital cost of installing FGD at Drax at about £650 million and PowerGen estimated the capital cost of installing FGD at Ratcliffe at about £250 million. These estimates were made at the time the FGD plant was being installed.
In recent years, the cost of FGD plant has fallen. On 27 January 1999, Eastern Generation Ltd. applied for consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 to retrofit FGD abatement to its 2012 MW plant at West Burton. In its original announcement of the project, Eastern Generation estimated the cost as being
in excess of £100 million".
§ Mrs. BrintonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimates he has made of the cost of electricity per KWh produced by(a) existing coal-fired power stations, (b) new CCGT gas-fired power stations and (c) existing coal-fired power stations with FGD. [69064]
§ Mr. BattleThe costs of electricity from gas-fired and coal-fired power stations were considered as part of the Government's Review of Energy Sources for Power Generation.
The views of consultees and the Government's conclusions relating to new CCGT gas-fired stations and existing coal-fired stations, with and without FGD, are set out in paragraphs 5.38 to 5.41 of the Government's October 1998 White Paper "Conclusions of The Review of Energy Sources for Power Generation and Government response to fourth and fifth Reports of the Trade and Industry Committee" (Cm 4071).