Mr. Gareth R. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will revise estimates of emissions of carbon dioxide from the electricity sector to take account of changes(a) in operational management of centralised power stations and (b) since the start of the New Electricity Trading Arrangements; and if she will make a statement. [3740]
§ Mr. WilsonActual CO2 emissions from the electricity generation sector since the start of the new electricity trading arrangements (NETA) are not yet available. Government projections of emissions were last published in November 2000 as energy paper 681. These are long-term projections, which we see no reason to revise at this stage. We do not, as yet, have sufficient information (including the generation fuel mix) to assess any resulting changes in the electricity sector. In any event, we are still in the early days of NETA and generator behaviour in response to the new arrangements is unlikely to have settled down. There have been particular issues regarding the impact of NETA on renewables and CHP, on which Ofgem will shortly be publishing a report.
1 Energy Projections for the UK, 2000–20. Energy Paper 68. Published November 2000.