§ Jonathan ShawTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme benefits combined heat and power systems. [131970]
§ Mr. Bradshaw[holding answer 14 October 2003]: The Government are aware of concerns that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme may act as a disincentive for the installation of combined heat and power (CHP) technologies. For this reason we are considering options for the treatment of CHP plants in the process of developing the National Allocation Plan.
The CHP industry believe that supplying operators in this situation with allowances for free from a limited CHP set-aside may act as an incentive. In this case operators installing new CHP plants would be provided with allowances equal to the difference in emissions between their existing or proposed traditional boiler and the proposed CHF plant. We are considering this and other options in the draft National Allocation Plan which we intend to publish for consultation in early December, giving industry an opportunity to comment on the various options.