§ Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what she estimates the carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants underwritten by the Export Credit Guarantees Department over the past five years will be over the 10 year operating period; and what she estimates the projected carbon emission savings in the United Kingdom over the same 10 years will be. [72298]
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 23 July 2002]: For coal-fired power plants underwritten by ECGD since 1997 it is estimated that upon completion total annual carbon emissions be of the order of 11.1 million tonnes.
The Government published the UK Climate Change Programme in November 2000 outlining a range of additional policies and measures that it is estimated could by 2010 reduce UK carbon emissions by 17.75 million tonnes below our projected baseline. The baseline reflects trends in energy use and the changing fuel mix in the electricity supply industry. It also includes the emission reductions expected from some policies that were 192W introduced before the Programme was published, such as the climate change levy, the fuel duty escalator to 1999, and the 10 per cent. renewables target.
The carbon emissions from power plants are calculated using the following assumptions:
Fuel Type ECGD Estimated Capacity (MW) Co2 (Tonnes per year) Carbon (Tonnes per year) Coal 11,260 40.6 million 11.1 million It has been assumed the plants operate for 60 per cent. of the time (5256 hours per year). CO2 emissions are calculated using the following conversion factors—Coal: 0.687 tonnes of CO2 per MW per hour, Oil 0.417, Gas: 0.309. These are taken from The Greenhouse Gas Protocol website (www.ghgprotocol.org) and are the 1999 average values for power plants in "Economies In Transition". These are the markets where ECGD most commonly provide guarantees.
Carbon emissions are calculated by assuming that carbon makes up 27.3 per cent. of the atomic mass of CO2.