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15 Sep 2008 : Column 2098W—continued

Post Office Card Account: Sandwell

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of state benefits were paid into Post Office card accounts in Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council area in the last year for which figures are available. [223233]


15 Sep 2008 : Column 2099W

Mr. Timms [holding answer 10 September 2008]: As at March 2008, around 32,000 state benefit and pension payments were being made into Post Office card accounts in Sandwell metropolitan borough council area. This represents around 27 per cent. of all state benefit and pension payments made.

Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Alcoholic Drinks: Prices

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what research his Department has undertaken into the relationship between alcohol pricing and problem drinking. [221312]

Mr. Thomas: None. The Department of Health has, however, commissioned a review of the relationship between alcohol pricing and alcohol consumption and harm. The findings of the first phase of that review were published alongside the Department of Health’s consultation document on further action in respect of the national alcohol strategy. Both documents can be found on the Department of Health’s website at:

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what advice he has received on the compliance with (a) UK and (b) EU competition law of minimum pricing for a unit of alcohol. [221313]

Mr. Thomas: In considering possible measures aimed at reducing alcohol related harms, the Government are taking account of the need to ensure any such measures are compatible with UK and EU law.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what research his Department has undertaken into the effects that minimum pricing of alcohol would have on people on low incomes who drink responsibly. [221314]

Mr. Thomas: In considering possible measures aimed at tackling alcohol related harms, the Government are, of course, taking account of the likely impact of such measures and would consult publicly before taking decisions on any detailed proposals in this area.

Biofuels

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many (a) domestic and (b) non-domestic biomass installations there are. [219667]

Malcolm Wicks: There is no comprehensive listing of the number of installations due to the range and diversity of biomass use and applications. However the best data available for biomass power generation come from the renewables obligation certificate (ROC) database compiled by Ofgem and available from Ofgem's renewables obligation (RO) website at


15 Sep 2008 : Column 2100W

Biomass projects extracted from the ROC list are as follows. These tables do not, however, include sewage gas and landfill gas operations, nor those installations not claiming ROCs.

Power generation plants

Table 1: Electricity production from stand-alone conventional biomass combustion
Plant name Installed capacity (kW) Generation in 2006 (MWh)

Genny

8

0

Bioflame

600

0

Chestnut Bio Power Ltd (formerly: Ecoenergy Ltd)

980

0

Eccleshall Biomass

2,645

0

Elean Business Park

36,850

216,112

Eye Power Station(Fibropower)

14,316

82,999

Fawley Waste to Energy Plant(1)

8,600

32,926

Glanford Power Station (Fibrogen)

16,700

78,788

Knypersley Renewable Generator

7,200

0

Longma Thorn

400

119

LPL—Hockwold

400

0

Mossborough Hall Farm

300

0

Thetford Power Station

41,500

199,763

Wilton 10 Biomass Gen station

35,220

0

Total

165,719

610,707


Table2: Electricity production from biomass and waste using anaerobic digestion
Plant name Installed capacity (kW) Generation in 2006 (MWh)

Bedfordia Biogas Ltd (Twinwoods)

786

584

Biogas Engine, Mauri Products Ltd

850

728

Holsworthy Biogas Company Project

2,696

9,453

Little Woolden Hall Farm

85

19

South Shropshire Biowaste Digester

200

24

Twyford Power Station

250

0

Wanlip AD Plant

1,434

1,224

Total

6,301

12,032



15 Sep 2008 : Column 2101W
Table 3: Electricity production from co-firing biomass with fossil fuel
Plant name Installed capacity (kW)( 2) Generation in 2006 (MWha)

Aberthaw B Power Station, nr Cardiff

1,552,500

78,494

Alcan Lynmouth Power Station

420,000

2,026

Cottam Power Station(2)

2,000,000

97,765

Didcot ‘A’ Power Station

2,100,000

114,896

Drakelow Power Station

333,000

0

Drax Power Station*

4,065,000

63,582

Eggborough Power Limited

1,062,000

161,953

Ferrybridge C Power Station

200,000

343,048

Fibrepower (Slough)(2)

12,000

40,628

Fiddler's Ferry Power Station

1,995,000

271,400

Glanford Brigg Power Station

272,000

0

Ironbridge Power Station

970,000

28,668

Kingsnorth Power Station

2,034,000

221,811

Ratcliffe-On-Soar Power Station

2,034,000

0

Tilbury Power Station

1,085,000

61,351

Uskmouth Power Plant

393,000

0

West Burton Power Station

2,000,000

48,338

Rugeley B, Staffs

50,000

0

Total

19,496,000

1,533,960

(1) The maximum percentage of co-fired ROCs that a supplier can present against its obligation was reduced from 25 per cent. in 2005-06 to 10 per cent. in 2006-07. This lead to a reduction of almost a factor of 2 in the number of co-firing ROCs presented in 2006-07.
(2) Capacities are for the whole power station, not just the part that co-fires biomass.

Table 4: Electricity from industrial CHP
Plant name Installed capacity (kW) Generation in 2006 (MWh)

Goosey Lodge Power Plant

16,000

82,092

Old Manor House

100

4

PDM Group Widnes

9,500

34,048

UPM Shotton Paper Boiler 7

19,655

14,407

Slough Electricity Contracts Ltd

35,000

166,148

Weston Industrial Estate

500

0

Buckland Down, Somerset

7,000

0

Total

87,755

296,699


Overall figures for the actual usage of bioenergy in the UK are available from the Digest of UK Energy Statistics on the website at

Data for 2007 will be published on 31 July 2008.

The low carbon buildings programme also has information on the grants it has given (which include biomass) at

For further general information on biomass activity in the UK

Carbon Trust

Biomass Accelerator:

Biomass Review (dated 2005):

Energy Saving Trust (EST)

Suppliers and products (available through Government grant schemes):


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