How do you view proposals to set up combined heat and power plants to burn lignite?
1373. Mr de Winne: Technically that is feasible, but seen objectively you are reverting to fossil fuels, of which there is a finite supply. Environmentally, it means taking out a large area of ground – opencast mining along the whole length of Lough Neagh and down into County Tyrone. Lignite itself is a very dirty fuel, midway between peat and coal. The energy content is somewhere around 6-7 kilowatt-hours per kilogram. There is a great deal of residual matter, and the emissions would contain a large quantity of sulphur. It would be better to go to gasworks. In environmental terms, there is the enormous amount of ground that would have to be dug out to get the lignite, which is interspersed with layers of clay. I do not look on it as a viable project as far as Northern Ireland is concerned. 1374. Mr Wells: Let us move on to another unusual fuel, namely, Orimulsion. There is a proposal to convert Kilroot to Orimulsion. What are your views on that proposal? 1375. Mr de Winne: I am not a
