Geothermal Power: Policy (Hansard, 19 April 1988)

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, the policy of Her Majesty's Government is to develop and promote all renewable energy technologies which are environmentally acceptable and indicate that they have potential to make an economically viable contribution to the United Kingdom's energy supply.

§ Lord Rodney
My Lords, I should like to thank my noble friend for that encouraging reply. How much have Her Majesty's Government already invested in this project? Are there plans to continue supporting this system of alternative energy?

§ Viscount Davidson
Yes, my Lords. The Government have invested over £25 million in the hot dry rocks technology. Prospects are encouraging, with further investment planned. The further work programme on this promising technology has recently been announced. It is to be undertaken by government funding amounting to £8.15 million over three years and will involve work by the Camborne School of Mines on an existing reservoir.

§ Baroness Nicol
My Lords, can the Minister tell the House what will happen to this project after privatisation, should privatisation take place? Is it the Government's intention to continue with funding or are they putting this project on the market too?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, it is the Government's intention that competition will be introduced into the electricity supply industry. Plans published on the privatisation of the industry provide for the purchase of electricity from generators and require a proportion of the electricity purchased to come from non-fossil fuel sources. The programme has already received small but helpful contributions from RTZ and Taylor Woodrow, and discussions are now under way with these bodies about involvement in the future programme. But the money that is presently being made available is for a three-year programme, privatisation or no.

§ The Earl of Kimberley
My Lords, can my noble friend say whether this investigation is being conducted in places other than Cornwall, for example, in Scotland?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, the main investigation is taking place in Cornwall, but other parts of the United Kingdom show similar 1354 possibilities. It may be for the interest of your Lordships if I produce this technical bulletin called Drawing Heat from the Earth. I shall place a copy of it in the Library. It is technical, but also very interesting.

Lord Winstanley
My Lords, without troubling the noble Viscount with questions about how long our stocks of coal or oil will last, may I ask him whether he accepts that our energy resources are finite, which means that sooner or later they will run out? If he accepts that, does he agree that it behoves us to do two things: first, to husband those sources of energy that we now have with much greater care than we do and, secondly, to pioneer and develop alternative sources? Is this alternative source to which the noble Lord, Lord Rodney, has referred, one that is much neglected?

§ Viscount Davidson
It is indeed a renewable source, my Lords. That is why the Government are backing it to the hilt and putting a great deal of money into research.

§ Lord Mottistone
My Lords, is it not the case that part of the heating of the new hospital at Newport on the Isle of Wight is being provided by geothermal energy? That is another county that my noble friend would like to hear about.

§ Viscount Davidson
I require notice of that question, my Lords.

§ Lord Elton
My Lords, can my noble friend enlighten me on a technical point? Did he tell us that the Camborne School of Mines is investigating the hot dry rock process in a reservoir? If that is so, what kind of a reservoir is it, and how does the hot rock stay dry?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, I think that at the moment it is a dry reservoir, but I shall look into this and write to my noble friend.

§ Lord Elton
My Lords, I hope my noble friend does not get wet!

The Earl of Bessborough
My Lords, can my noble friend tell me what is being done in other parts of the world, especially, for example, in Italy and elsewhere, on the American continent?

§ Viscount Davidson
My Lords, I understand that much work is going on in Sweden, but there again I shall have to send my noble friend a copy of this leaflet. The print is very small and I cannot find the exact answer to his question.