HC Deb 10 May 2004 vol 421 cc93-4W
Sir Archy Kirkwood

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to promote sustainable technologies to generate power supplies in future. [169370]

Nigel Griffiths

The Government's target for renewables is that, by 2010, 10 per cent. of our electricity sales will come from renewable sourced electricity. The target is challenging as we are starling from a low base.

The Government's main policy mechanism for achieving the target is the Renewables Obligation (and Renewables Obligation Scotland) Introduced in April 2002, it places an obligation on all licensed electricity suppliers to supply a specified and growing proportion of their sales from electricity generated from a range of eligible renewable sources.

Through the Renewables Obligation (RO), we are looking to accelerate the development of renewables in a wide range of sources and technologies. In order to encourage a more vigorous and diverse renewable energy sector, the Government has allocated a total of £350 million over four years for capital grants and research grants to promote forms renewable energy that are further from becoming commercially competitive. This includes among other things grants of £ 117 million for offshore wind, £66 million for energy crops and biomass, £25 million for solar photovoltaics (PV), £10 million for community schemes and £5 million for wave and tidal demonstration projects.

The Government additionally has a target of achieving at least 10 gigawatts of good Quality combined heat power (CHP) capacity by 2010 and published its Strategy for CHP to 2010 on 26 April of this year confirming its continued aim towards that target. CHP is a highly fuel-efficient energy technology which (puts to use waste heat produced as a by-product of the electricity generation process and) can make a significant contribution to the UK's sustainable energy goals.

Mr. Stephen O'Brien

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to make a statement on the first annual report on sustainable energy; and what form such a statement will take. [170279]

Mr. Timms

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, wrote on 26 April to Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) and the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) informing them that the Government was publishing on that day the first annual report on the Energy White Paper, among other documents, and that copies of the report had been placed in the Libraries of the House. My right hon. Friend also made a written ministerial statement on 27 April 2004,Official Report, column 37WS, announcing that the annual report had been published and that copies had been placed in the Libraries of the House.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has no plans to make a further statement.