HC Deb 10 December 1973 vol 866 cc9-10
2. Mr. Adley

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what extra impetus the fuel oil shortage has given to his Department's search for alternative sources of energy; and if he will step up research on the use of Great Britain's tidal estuaries for the generation of electricity, particularly the Severn Estuary.

Mr. Peter Walker

It has confirmed the correctness of the important decisions taken this year and last to make better use of our indigenous fuel resources. Great Britain's tidal estuaries offer only limited scope as power sources. Two schemes for a Severn barrage have been considered recently, but did not appear economically attractive.

Mr. Adley

I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that the circumstances surrounding the rapid rise in the price of oil may make previously unattractive schemes a lot more attractive? Is he aware that one of the schemes for the barrage is estimated to be able to produce 50 per cent. of the nation's electricity requirements? Would not this be a good time to spend a few hundred thousand pounds on setting up a hydrological survey of one of the schemes, so that we can establish facts which are not well known?

Mr. Walker

Price comparisons with oil and other sources of energy have changed dramatically. However, the alternative for this country in the longer term is nuclear energy. The cost per unit generated on the best barrage scheme available would be two and a half times that of an advanced nuclear reactor.

Mr. Dalyell

Whereas it is true that when last looked at, in the middle 1960s, the Solway barrage was economically unattractive, is the Secretary of State aware that some people now seriously think that it might be economically attractive?

Mr. Walker

I shall look specifically at that scheme to see whether that is so, but my advice is that the barrage schemes available to us could not compete with the nuclear potentiality. Obviously I shall check on this specific scheme.

Mrs. Kellett-Bowman

Will my right hon. Friend ensure that more resources are devoted not only to finding alternative sources of energy but to making better use of the resources that we have already? For example, will he encourage fluidised combustion in coal-burning stations, since it not only gives a better conversion rate but is advantageous from the point of view of the environment?

Mr. Walker

I shall consider that.