§ 13. Mr. PageTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy what is his estimate of the potential for photovoltaic electricity generation in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. MoynihanI have recently reviewed the scope for photovoltaic electricity generation in the United Kingdom and concluded that there is a significant opportunity for photovoltaic power to contribute to United Kingdom 11 energy needs in certain applications. For that reason I recently announced a new research programme into the technology.
§ Mr. PageI thank my hon. Friend for that reply. It is obvious that that form of energy production has considerable usage not only for stand-alone purposes, but as an environmentally clean form of energy. So that we can get a handle on the size of the power that could be generated, can my hon. Friend tell the House and the nation what volumes of energy in gigawatts could be produced by that form of electricity generation into the early years of the next century?
§ Mr. MoynihanI assume that my hon. Friend is including consumer products—it is estimated that 170 GW hours could be produced by the year 2025.