Coal-fired Power Stations

Debate between Mark Spencer and David Hamilton

Wednesday 29th June 2011 Westminster Hall

[Mr Spencer]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. That point is fundamental to the debate: coal is recognised as being flexible, but we need to embrace the technology of carbon capture and storage. That is something that I want to explore in more detail later. It is interesting that my hon. Friend touches on carbon capture and storage, because those are new clean technologies that have been proven to work. Powerfuel’s new development at Hatfield, Yorkshire, is backed by Friends of the Earth. It is a good example of how new clean coal plant can be developed and can work in practice.

I turn to the environmental side of the argument. Despite legally binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in 2008 91.5% of UK energy supply was met by the use of carbon-intensive fossil fuels. We need to address that figure seriously if we are to, first, meet our energy demands and, secondly, reduce this nation’s carbon footprint.

EDF Energy has said that, between now and 2016, 13 GW of coal and oil baseload plant will close. Other ageing coal plants may also close by 2016 and 7.5 GW worth of nuclear closures are scheduled by 2015. EDF Energy reached its figure of a 32 GW shortfall by factoring in the expected closures, the expected growth in demand for electricity and the expected growth in line with the renewables obligation. That figure of a 32 GW shortfall will be a terrifying one unless we find ways of plugging the gap that do not necessarily involve laying cables across the channel so that we become dependent on our near neighbours.

If the UK coal-fired power stations were replaced over time with clean coal plants, the UK would stand at the head of an energy revolution, we would be secure in our energy supply and we would also be comfortably within the environmental emissions targets. I hope that the Government can find a way to support investment in clean coal technology so that we can achieve some of those goals.

Carbon dioxide capture and storage—CCS—is the critical enabling technology that would reduce CO₂ emissions significantly while also allowing coal to meet the world’s pressing energy needs. It is important to recognise that this is a global issue. While we are considering UK energy generation, it would be foolish not to observe what is happening on the rest of planet Earth. I have already mentioned China and the number of power plants that it is producing. If we can find, develop and enhance CCS technology, we could position ourselves well in the world.

[Mr David Hamilton (Midlothian) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on raising this very important issue. Given the timetable before us—the site contract is to be signed by Scottish Power by 2011, but we will not see any real production until later—is he as concerned as I am that there will be a gap in the energy market and we will not be able to fulfil the energy requirements of this country? How will we overcome that problem if we do not move the energy agenda forward?

[Mr Spencer]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention and that is exactly the point—there is this gap and we must find a way to fill it. A Government of whatever colour have to address this issue quickly and grab it with both hands, because we cannot afford to be in a position where that gap increases and we cannot keep the power on. I therefore commit myself to supporting him in lobbying Government to ensure that we fill that gap. I hope that the Minister will reassure us at some point that we can fill it.

CCS is a means of mitigating the contribution of fossil fuel emissions to global warming. The process is based on capturing CO₂ from large point sources, for example power stations, and storing it in such a way that it does not enter the atmosphere. CCS can also be used to describe the “scrubbing” of CO₂ from ambient air as a geo-engineering technique. Although CO₂ has been injected into geological formations for various purposes, the long-term storage of CO₂ is a relatively new concept. The first commercial example of its use was at Weyburn in 2000.

I want to explore the three groups into which CCS can be split: post-combustion; pre-combustion; and oxyfuel.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Spencer]

It is true that we need to take a balanced view and ensure that we explore the new technologies. I think that tidal and wave power are great, and if they work they will contribute a small amount to this nation’s energy security. The important thing to note though is that it will be a small amount, because those technologies do not have a large enough share of the market. The number of areas where we could secure a tidal scheme—the Severn estuary is one example—is small, and there are no opportunities to generate enormous amounts of electricity via such schemes. I acknowledge that we need a mixed portfolio, but that works only if there is something there to pick up the base load. The crux of my argument is that the only methods that can be used to pick up the base load are nuclear power and coal-fired power stations, and we are not in a position to build nuclear power stations fast enough to plug the inevitable gap.

On the merits of clean coal technology for the environment, the biggest long-term problem for coal is its carbon dioxide level. Approximately 90% of the CO₂ produced by a coal-fired power station could be captured with CCS, and CCS could help to make up to 20% of the global cuts in emissions that are needed by 2050. Therefore, if we can find the technology that will work, we can sell it to the world, continue to use coal and at the same time cut the amount of CO₂ being released into the atmosphere.

Owing to their substantial carbon emissions, coal-fired power stations are currently considered environmentally unacceptable. That is simply because we are looking at the technology of the 1960s and 1970s, rather than at what is available now and might be available in future. Coal-fired power gets a bit of a poor press, but some of what is said about it is not true.

The UK has the opportunity to be at the forefront of developing clean coal technology. That would not only be beneficial to the UK, but be a very effective way of helping developing countries, notably China and India, to take advantage of their own coal reserves in a way that is considered environmentally acceptable. We find ourselves in a situation in which the Department for International Development is funding the World Bank, which in turn is funding electricity generation in other parts of the world, and those countries are spending that cash on coal-fired power stations, which are not as environmentally friendly as they could be. If we can find a way to make the technology work and embrace it, we could sell it to other parts of the world or donate it as part of our aid programme to the more challenged parts of the world, which would benefit the planet and those more challenged countries as well.

It is vital that we are at the forefront of development. That could lead to a whole new industry. Selling the technology and building it for the world would generate enormous amounts of cash and jobs for the UK. If we are not at the forefront of its development, other countries will jump ahead of us and we will lose the opportunity. This great nation of ours has always been at the cutting edge of technology, and certainly of engineering, and we need to maintain that tradition if we possibly can.

The process of coal gasification can capture 90% of CO₂ emissions for storage and can also produce a synthetic gas, known as “syngas”, which is 99.5% pure hydrogen. The beauty of that fuel is that, once fired through a conventional gas turbine, the only emission is water vapour. Although cleaning up the existing plants is welcome, it will not have the impact that those who want to reduce our CO₂ emissions significantly require, nor will it capture any CO₂ for alternative income generation. Coal gasification is the only process that changes one form of energy—coal—into another flexible energy source—hydrogen—but without a clear Government energy policy, IGCC technology will not happen. To be viable, the new IGCC plants require the same allocation of CO₂ allowances as existing coal plants, but at present they receive the allowances for a CCGT-fired—combined cycle gas turbine—power station.

So far, generating electricity from coal has failed the environmental test because of its carbon emissions, but clean coal offers a number of strategic advantages, including the ability to ensure sustainable and competitively priced electricity and to offset security issues and the cost of importing from volatile countries in the middle east and Russia, which is key. In the past, when I challenged Ministers who said that they were more than comfortable with our arrangements with overseas suppliers, they pointed me to the fact that we have imported a vast amount of our food over the past 50 years and we have certainly never been too concerned about that. The arrangement has worked very well, but it is important to recognise that that has been during a period in which food production has been on an enormous scale and food has been plentiful. The situation may change the second we reach a position where we are short of food.

Russia decided last year not to export a single grain of wheat. That had an enormous impact on global wheat prices overnight. I can see us in a situation in which a very similar thing happens to energy. We all remember images on the news of French lamb farmers blockading their ports and stopping imports of British lamb. Such images stick with me. Can we really depend on our neighbours when we are up against the wall? Will they look after their own taxpayers and can they look after British taxpayers at the same time? That makes me very nervous. Such situations make me think that we should ensure that we are on a secure footing and that we have enough energy in the UK to supply ourselves.

[Mr David Hamilton]

The hon. Gentleman does not need to turn to food for an example, because only a few years ago the Russians turned the gas off to the country next to them, and prices spiked right after. If that happened over a long time and more countries did it, it would really harm our energy requirements.

[Mr Spencer]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention because he makes a pertinent point. The other areas with which we are dealing, for example those in the middle east, are not as politically stable as they could be. We can easily foresee circumstances in which our ability to source energy from those parts of the world is compromised by political upheavals similar to those happening now. That could leave us exposed. I hope that we can find a way of securing our energy. We must meet rising electricity demand and smooth the less predictable output from renewables. We need to foster and promote a high-growth, low-carbon economy.

I shall now address the point raised by the hon. Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer) on wind power and explain why I feel that wind power is not adequate to support our needs. Fitting clean coal technology to the UK’s 16 power plants would cost an estimated £6 billion. In comparison, 2,000 wind turbines will be put up in the UK over the next six years at a cost of £9 billion. The Government’s renewable energy policy is currently over-dependent on wind energy. That imbalance is largely the result of the renewables obligation, which provides no clear boundary as regards the merits of various renewable technologies, so the cheapest option in terms of start-up costs—wind power—has been pursued, irrespective of its failures on grounds of unreliability and secure energy.

The dangers of over-relying on wind power were demonstrated in Ireland on 4 December 2003, when the electricity regulator had to take emergency measures to reduce the amount of wind power on the Irish electric grid following major concerns about the security and stability of the power system. Simply because the wind blew too hard, too much power was being generated, so pretty quick action had to be taken to resolve it.

In contrast, Demark has the most intense concentration of wind generation in Europe. At peak output, Danish wind farms can account for nearly 64% of Danish peak power demand. That rarely occurs, but it does happen on occasion. Last year, Danish carbon emissions rose, because the Danish grid fell back on older fossil fuel generation to plug the gap left by underperforming wind farms. Danish power stations used 50% more coal than in 2005 to cover wind’s failings and wind turbines generated 21.7% of electricity, which is down from 29.4% in 2005. To put it in simple terms, when the wind does not blow, the turbines do not move and the power is not there. As the Danes have to have a stopgap base load, they use coal. Ironically, during that period the use of fossil fuels rose, which demonstrates the frustrations with the system that we are pursuing.