§ 31. Mr. Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Energy how much his Department is currently spending annually on grants for research into alternative forms of energy; and how this compares with five years before.
§ Mr. David HuntMy Department expects to spend about £14 million on renewable energy research and development in the current financial year compared with expenditure of about £8 million in 1979–80.
§ 38. Mr. Hannamasked the Secretary of State for Energy what steps he is taking to research alternative energy schemes such as wind-power, wave-power, solar and tidal-barrage.
§ Mr. David HuntIn 1983–84 expenditure under my Department's renewable energy research and development programme amounted to £11.3 million, of which £4.7 million was concerned with geothermal energy and £2.5 million with wind energy. Work is being concentrated on the most promising technologies and encouraging progress is being made. For example, in October I announced approval for the construction of a 3 megawatt wind turbine on Orkney.