§ Viscount Merseyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What proposals they have for further research and development into wave power.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy (Baroness Hooper)The Department of Energy is to fund a study to assess the overall United Kingdom shoreline wave energy resource. This survey will be carried out over the next 18 months by Queen's University, Belfast. The£87,000 costs of this survey will be funded by the department. This study is complementary to the present research and development work on the Shoreline Rock Gully device on the Island of I slay. The next phase of this experimental prototype is now proceeding, subject to contract, on the basis of encouraging test data acquired so far.
1299WAThe objectives of this next phase are the design, manufacture and the installation of an appropriate air driven power turbine and electrical generator and the assessment of the overall productivity, reliability and cost effectiveness of the complete system when connected to the local grid. In February 1987 the department published Energy Paper number 54 "Energy Technologies for the United Kingdom: 1986 appraisals of research, development and demonstration". This appraisal is now due to be updated and a review will begin shortly. I have asked that a study on wave energy including offshore technologies should be made at an early stage. We shall appoint a steering group with independent members for the wave energy study as is our normal practice. All interested parties will be consulted both during the course of the review and at the stage of the preparation of the report.