§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will ensure that the bioenergy capital grants scheme is sufficiently flexible to support small and medium sized enterprises, [44052]
§ Mr. WilsonAfter considerable consultation with the industry conducted by my Department and the New Opportunities Fund (NOF), we have recently put forward the initial details of the bioenergy capital grants scheme on our website. The initial design takes into account the policy directions which accompany the NOF funding and the recommendations of the Performance and Innovation Unit which accompany the DTI funding. There is no limit to the size of organisation which can be involved, but we envisage setting minimum project sizes to ensure appropriate economies of scale, appropriate electrical efficiency and sufficient supply chain development.
There may also be scope for support for smaller-scale biomass projects within our forthcoming community and household grants scheme which we are currently developing under the Sustainable Energy Research and Development Programme.