Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Spalding Natural Gas Power Station.
Generation capacity information for GB can be located on the TEC Register on the National Grid ESO website at https://www.nationalgrideso.com/document/149106/download
Generation capacity information for NI can be located in the annual All-Island Generation Capacity Statement produced by the Transmission System Operators for Ireland and Northern Ireland, the most recent of which can be found at http://www.eirgridgroup.com/site-files/library/EirGrid/Generation_Capacity_Statement_2018.pdf
The Capacity Market provides an effective mechanism for bringing forward capacity in GB as and when it is needed. The Capacity Market registers (available at https://www.emrdeliverybody.com/CM/Registers.aspx) provide a record of which capacity providers in GB have legal agreements requiring them to make their capacity available over coming years.
Energy policy in Northern Ireland is largely a transferred (devolved) matter and a Capacity Market was introduced as part of the relaunched Single Electricity Market in October 2018.
Decommissioning decisions are a commercial matter for the company concerned. Following consultation in November 2016 the Government confirmed its commitment to put an end to unabated coal power generation in GB from 2025.