§ Mr. Rostasked the Secretary of State for Energy (1) if the Energy Technology Support Unit in his Department has estimated the cost of supporting the development of the AUR prime mover for the exploitation of tidal power from the present prototype stage;
(2) when the Energy Technology Support Unit was first asked by Mr. A. U. Reid to assess the potential of the AUR prime mover for exploiting tidal power; how many technical discussions have taken place; and when the Energy Technology Support Unit expects to conclude its investigations;
669W(3) if the Energy Technology Support Unit is investigating the proposals presented to it by Mr. A. U. Reid for a prime mover suitable for extracting energy from tidal power at higher efficiency and over smaller tidal ranges than conventional turbogenerators.
§ Mr. EadieThe Energy Technology Support Unit was first asked to assess the AUR prime mover in December 1974 and four technical discussions were subsequently held. In September 1975 Mr. Reid was informed that his proposals did not contain sufficient technical information to enable a commercial judgment to be made but that development was likely to be long and expensive. I also understand that Mr. Reid has seen engineers in the electricity supply industry and that they were not convinced that his scheme would show an improvement over more conventional technology. Mr. Reid presented further information in November of this year and a further technical meeting has already been promised.