Renewable Energy (Hansard, 15 May 1992)

§ Mr. Dafis
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make it his policy to abolish the 1988 deadline under the non-fossil fuel obligation for the development of renewable source energy.

§ Mr. Eggar
My Department is in discussion with the European Commission about the 1998 limitation.

§ Mr. Simon Hughes
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what proportion of Her Majesty's Government's target for renewable energy he expects to originate from Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Eggar
The Government are currently working towards a figure of 1,000 MW of new electricity generating plant from renewable energy sources by the year 2000. There is no separate figure for Northern Ireland at present. A study is being carried out on the potential for renewable energy in Northern Ireland and the results will assist with setting a renewable target within the overall United Kingdom figure.

§ Mrs. Ann Taylor
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimates the Government have made of the contribution that sources of renewable energy could make to achieving the United Kingdom's stabilisation target for CO₂ emissions by the year 2000.

§ Mr. Eggar
I refer the hon. Lady to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mr. Griffiths) on 14 May,Official Report, column 170–71.