LONDON (Reuters) - Diesel power generators are likely to be among the recipients of hundreds of millions of pounds of government subsidies in Britain's second auction to secure back-up electricity supplies, a report said on Tuesday.
The report comes as negotiators from more than 190 countries meet in Paris to thrash out a global deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
"In the same week that world leaders are in Paris negotiating a climate deal the UK government is handing out new subsidies to the most polluting form of electricity generation available," said Jimmy Aldridge, senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), which published the report.
Britain has come under fire for mixed messages on its climate policy as it makes calls for a strong global agreement in Paris while cutting subsidies for renewable power projects at home.
IPPR, a British-based think-tank estimates diesel generators received up to 109 million pounds from last year's auction, and could secure up to 434 million pounds more if this year's auction clears at the same 19.40 pounds per kilowatt/year.
"Our priority is keeping the lights on - the capacity market ensures we do this and provides affordable electricity that hardworking families and businesses can rely on," a spokesperson from the Department of Energy and Climate Change said.
Diesel generators capable of generating a total of 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of electricity have pre-qualified for this year's auction.
The generators are usually small units installed at industrial sites to provide emergency power to enable business to keep running if main electricity supplies are cut.
IPPR said the units typically emit more than 1000 grams of carbon dioxide for each kilowatt hour (gCO2/kWh) of electricity produced, higher than coal-fired power plants and almost three times as much as efficient gas-fired power plants.
The auction is expected to secure a total of 44.7 GW of power with four rounds each day until the auction clears.
Companies with diesel generators that won in last year's auction include independent power generators Alkane Energy, Precision Diesel Enterprises Ltd and Fulcrum Power Ltd.