§ Mr. WeirTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of the promised £260 million in renewable energy investment has been made; to which projects it has been allocated; and how much electricity is expected to be produced by the projects by 2010. [65115]
§ Mr. Wilson£260 million has been allocated to the following projects:
- £55.5 million per annum for research and development
- £74 million for Offshore Wind Capital Grants
- £81.5 million for Bioenergy Capital Grants
- £20 million for Photovoltaics
- £10 million for Community and Household Capital Grants
- £2.5 million for Planning Facilitation work
- £10 million for Blue Skies Research
- £5 million for Wave and Tidal development
- £4 million for Net Metering, Storage and Control Technologies
- £6 million for Photovoltaic Field Trials.
Of these projects, all are up and running except the Community and Household Capital Grants Scheme, which is in the design stage. It is expected that we will spend this year's £19 million on research and development and approximately £10 million on capital grants.
Most of the programmes are intended to support research, development and pre-commercial demonstration of renewable technologies. Only the Offshore Wind and Bioenergy Capital Grants programmes are expected to contribute to the 2010 target. These programmes will result in approximately 1,300 megawatts of capacity or 1.5 per cent. of electricity supply.