Vol. 470 No. 6
15 Mr. Leonard asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications when the will announce the successful applicants under the alternative energy requirement scheme for generating electricity from biomass or farm waste as fuel. [19450/96]
The AER II competition was launched in December 1995. The aim is to secure the construction of one biomass-waste to energy electricity generation plant. The plant will be between 10MW and 30MW in size.
A sum of £7.5 million in European Regional Development Fund support has been allocated for the project. The actual sum to be paid will be determined by the size of the plant—30MW = £7.5 million, 15MW = £3.75 million.
The Department has agreed contract terms with an independent assessor who will report to me by the end of November, having completed the technical and commercial evaluation of the bids received.
The competition is currently entering its final stage, i.e. the commercial bid stage. The deadline for submission of the commercial bids to the independent assessor is 18 November 1996.
The winning tender must be subjected to a socio-economic cost-benefit analysis. We hope this will be completed and the winner announced before the end of the year or early in the new year.
