Asked by: Tom Greatrex (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate his Department has made of the dispatch period required to increase capacity at (a) nuclear, (b) combined cycle gas turbine, (c) open cycle gas turbine and (d) coal-fired power stations.
Answered by Matt Hancock
A report by independent energy consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff commissioned by this Department considers the flexibility of coal and gas power technologies:
The table below contains information from the report and shows indicative start up times for coal, existing and modern gas combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) and large and aero-derivative open cycle gas turbines (OCGT):
Technology | Notice to Synch* (mins) | Synch to Full Load (mins) | |
Hot Start | Coal Existing Gas CCGT Modern Gas CCGT Gas Large OCGT | 80-90 15 15 2-5 | 50-100 35-80 25 15-30 |
Warm Start | Coal Existing Gas CCGT Modern Gas CCGT Gas Large OCGT | 300 15 15 2-5 | 85 80 - 15-30 |
Cold Start | Coal Existing Gas CCGT Modern Gas CCGT Gas Large OCGT | 360-420 15 15 2-5 | 80-250 190-240 190 15-30 |
All Starts | Gas (Aero) OCGT | 2-5 | 4-8 |
*‘Notice to Synch’ is the period of prior notice that a power plant requires to be able to start up the plant to the point of synchronisation.
The current nuclear fleet is not specifically designed for load following and generally plants will operate at their full nominal load. Plants that are offline for maintenance or refuelling will not usually be available to come back on line rapidly as there are a number of safety requirements that must be observed on re-start.
Asked by: Tom Greatrex (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of prepayment meter customers who self-disconnected at least once in each year since 2010 and (b) total number of prepayment meter customers in each year since 2010.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Department does not hold information on the number of pre-payment meter customers who self-disconnected.
Asked by: Tom Greatrex (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate his Department has made of the Cost of New Entry, represented as £/MHh for (a) 800MW OCGT, (b) 800MW CCGT, (c) gas plant sub-20MW and (d) oil plant sub-20MW.
Answered by Matt Hancock
DECC’s publishes estimates for the levelised costs of electricity generation for different technologies. The most recent £/MWh estimates are available in the DECC Electricity Generation Costs (December 2013) report, available at:
Table 1 below is taken from this report, and shows the central levelised cost estimate for representative CCGT and OCGT plants commissioning in 2016. Estimates are not published for sub 20-MW gas plants or oil plants.
Table 1: Levelised cost estimates for CCGT and OCGT technologies, technology specific hurdle rates
£/MWh £2012 | CCGT (gas) * | OCGT (gas) * |
Projects commissioning in 2016 | 77 | 169 |
* CCGT: Combined Cycle Gas Turbine, OCGT: Open Cycle Gas Turbine
It should be noted that updated cost input assumptions for the range of CCGT and OCGT costs are provided in a Coal and Gas Assumptions report by Parsons Brinkerhoff commissioned by DECC (March 2014). This is available at:
The levelised cost of a particular generation technology is the ratio of the total costs of a generic plant to the total amount of electricity expected to be generated over the plant’s lifetime (per megawatt hour). Levelised cost estimates are highly sensitive to the assumptions used for capital costs, fuel and EU ETS allowance prices, operating costs, load factor, discount rate and other drivers and this means that there is significant uncertainty around these estimates.
Asked by: Tom Greatrex (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much of the plant which has qualified for the first auction of the capacity market is fossil-fuel burning plant of less than 20MW capacity, given (a) in MW and (b) as a proportion of the total capacity qualifying for the auction.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Fossil fuelled fired plant which has prequalified and confirmed its participation in the capacity auction and which is less than 20MW (on a de-rated capacity basis), totals around 1,950MW of de-rated capacity. This is about 3% of the total of 64,969MW of de-rated capacity which will participate in the auction.
The full list of capacity that has pre-qualified can be found on the National Grid website:
Asked by: Tom Greatrex (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate his Department has made of the additional cost to electricity suppliers in the capacity market of carrying the liability for meeting the payments of a defaulting participant.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Department has not made an estimate of the additional cost to suppliers of carrying the liability in the event of one participant defaulting. In the first instance each supplier is required to post credit cover which will be used to cover a missed payment. In the unlikely event a defaulted payment is mutualised across other suppliers, the actual amount would depend on the overall cost of the capacity market payments in that year, and the share of these costs due to be paid by the defaulting supplier. Electricity suppliers have been consulted on these arrangements.
Asked by: Tom Greatrex (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the size of the current UK visa application backlog in the regional processing hub in Pretoria, South Africa.
Answered by James Brokenshire
There is no backlog in Pretoria.
Asked by: Tom Greatrex (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the system for online applications for UK visas from Malawi will become fully operational.
Answered by James Brokenshire
UK Visas and Immigration has moved to an application and payment process in which almost all customers apply and pay for their visas online. This system is already fully operational in Malawi. The move to online applications and
payments has delivered a streamlined process that is consistent with a wider global trend for online transactions and payments. Customers who do not have a credit or debit card can seek a sponsor to pay online. Prepaid credit or debit cards from the major suppliers can be provided by Malawian banks and used with this system.
Asked by: Tom Greatrex (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of documents being lost, damaged or misplaced during the process of applying for a UK visa from Malawi there were in each month since June 2010.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Home Office does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Tom Greatrex (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of how much money her Department received from (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful visa applications from Malawi in each year since 2010.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Home Office does not retain this data. However, it is important to note that visa fees are non-refundable after a customer has submitted the application and provided biometric details, as at this point we have commenced assessment of the application. Currently, 86% of applications submitted in Malawi are successful.
Asked by: Tom Greatrex (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the money saved by her Department by the move to regional hubs in Africa to process UK visa applications.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Home Office has pursued this consolidation programme in order to improve the quality of its operations, as well as to realise savings for the taxpayer. Globally, savings have been realised, for example, in areas such asreduced estates costs, more streamlined support services, and lower staff numbers. It is not possible to disaggregate the Home Office savings associated with consolidation in one post or one region.