§ Lord Jenkins of Putneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will take a fresh look at wave power and other renewable sources of energy?
§ Viscount UllswaterIn February 1987 the department published Energy Paper No. 54Energy Technologies for the United Kingdom: 1986 Appraisal of Research, Development and Demonstration. This appraisal is due to be updated.
As part of that exercise a study of wave energy is now in progress. The study has the following objectives:
"To review the technical and commercial viability and prospects for wave energy in the United Kingdom, in the following areas:
shoreline wave energy;
small-scale modular offshore wave energy; large-scale offshore wave energy.
To review the economic classification of shoreline and offshore wave energy technologies and determine whether they are in the "Economically Attractive", "Promising but Uncertain" or "Long Shot" categories.
A steering group with independent members for the wave energy study has been appointed, as is our normal practice. All interested parties are being consulted during the study and again at the stage of the preparation of the report.
Similar reviews of the other renewable sources will be undertaken in the course of the update of Energy Paper No. 54.