asked the Minister for Energy the cost of producing a unit of electricity in (a) oil, (b) coal, (c) turf and (d) gas generated power stations; the estimated cost in biomass generated stations; and the cost in (i) hydro-electric stations and (ii) the Turlough Hill type operation.

The information requested by the Deputy, as furnished to me by the ESB, is as follows:

Cost in pence of producing a unit of electricity from:

*The use of biomass as fuel is at the experimental stages at present and any figures which might be quoted would be unreliable.

Has the Minister any estimate for the cost of biomass for generating electricity? Has he any estimate for electricity generated by wind or waves?

The ESB are not sufficiently far advanced in their experiments to provide an estimate in regard to biomass. Information on the other matter was not sought in the question.

In view of the fact that coal is at the top of the list which the Minister has given is it not rather peculiar that the ESB are concentrating on coal in their generating stations nowadays?

The Deputy should realise that the figure quoted here is the figure for one small coal station which uses native coal. The economics will be enormously different when large quantities of higher grade imported coal are used.

Has the Minister any estimate from the financial point of view?

I have not, but I believe it would be substantially below the figure for oil generated power stations which is 2.048p.

The figures the Minister has given are very interesting. Do they relate to the superficial cost, having been made a present of the plant, of generating units of electricity or is there in those figures an element reflecting the capital cost of installing plant of different kinds?

The costs included are fuel, operation and maintenance, plus other local administration charges and depreciation. Costs which are not specifically allocated over the generating stations are interest, amortisation and generation overhead charges.

The interest and amortisation charges are really only a fraction of what the installation of the plant has cost. There would be very large differences in the cost of different kinds of generating installations.

Depreciation is included.

On a historical basis?

I do not know on what basis it is.

I am trying to discover if those figures are useful in order to assist us to plan the installation of future generating units. Is it possible to say, in regard to planning a range of new units, that we will get electricity from this kind of unit at roughly half or a fraction of the price of another or is the difference in the cost of installing the plant so large that it really makes those figures irrelevant or not so reliable? I am trying to discover from the Minister if it would be possible to plan the installation of new plant on the basis of those figures or if a whole new set of figures will have to be taken into account related to the crude cost and the difference in the crude cost between a nuclear plant on one side——

As long as all the figures are based on or within the same parameters and exclude the same factors also they are comparable and decisions could be made on the basis of them.