§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will update to March 1986 the information given by the right hon. Member for Croydon, Central (Mr. Moore) in reply to the question from the hon. Member for Surrey, North-West (Mr. Grylls), Official Report, 15 May 1981, column 381, on the amount his Department spent each year on (i) nuclear research and development (a) through the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and (b) otherwise, (ii) on non-nuclear research and development and (iii) on the various categories of renewable energy research and development.
§ Mr. David HuntIt is misleading to compare R & D on nuclear energy with that on renewable energy simply on the basis of annual expenditures. Nuclear power is a highly developed, economically proven and large scale technology which already provides about one-fifth of United Kingdom electricity generation. The electricity-producing renewables on the other hand are at an earlier stage of development; their ecomomics are as yet uncertain; and the scale at which it is appropriate to conduct R & D is much smaller that is the case with nuclear power. As the prospects for renewable energy technologies become more clearly identified as economically attractive, we would expect the R & D effort to grow accordingly and the adoption of the technologies by final users would be encouraged. This approach is exemplified by my right hon. Friend's announcement to the House on 9 July that the Department is to launch a further research programme aimed at reducing the technical and economic uncertainties of tidal power as a means of power generation. The programme, which will involve the CEGB, the Severn tidal power group and the Mersey Barrage company was well as my Department, will cost an estimated £5.5 million, of which my Department will contribute £2 million
387WExpenditure by my Department on research and development for the year 1980–81 to 1984–85 is given in the table below:
£ million 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 (i) Nuclear R & D* 186.2 205.4 214.8 203.8 †196.2 (ii) Non Nuclear R & D of which Renewables: 33.2 46.1 34.8 40.0 40.8 Wind 0.8 0.9 2.5 2.5 4.8 Wave 3.3 4.4 3.1 1.0 0.4 Geothermal-Aquifer 1.7 2.6 1.5 1.8 1.1 Geothermal-Hot Dry Rocks 0.6 5.6 3.0 2.9 4.6 Solar 0.9 0.7 1.4 0.9 0.5 Biomass 0.3 0.4 0.7 0.3 0.2 Tidal 1.4 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.3 ETSU Services 2.2 2.3 2.0 1.9 2.1 Total Renewables 11.2 17.3 14.2 11.3 14.0 * All nuclear R & D funded by the Department is through the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. † This figure does not reconcile with the Appropriation Account because of a change in accounting conventions following the change in the basis of departmental funding of the UKAEA in that year from parliamentary grant to grant-in-aid.