§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to increase the target of energy generated from renewable sources. [161004]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Government remain firmly committed to the 10 per cent. target of electricity from renewable sources by 2010 and an aspiration to double this by 2020. We plan to review the Renewables Obligation (which is the main vehicle for achieving our target) during 2005, and to set out the scope of that review later this year. In December I announced that the Renewables Obligation will be extended from 2010 to a level of 15.4 per cent. in 2015–16.
§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent estimates she has made of the change in demand for electricity over the next decade. [161813]
§ Mr. TimmsIn August 2003 the Department published for consultation new projections to 2010 of electricity generation from different sources. These are available at: www.dti.gov.uk/energy/sepn/projections.pdf.
Work to update these projections is continuing and revised projections should be available shortly.
§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the change in demand for electricity over the past decade was in(a) the North West and (b) the United Kingdom. [161817]
§ Mr. TimmsData for electricity demand in the UK are contained in the long term trends annex to the Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics 2003 (table 5.1.2) available at: www.dti.gov.uk/energy/inform/energy_stats/electricity/index.shtml.
Data for the North West region were published for the period 2000–02 only in the December 2003 issue of Energy Trends available at: www.dti.gov.uk/energy/inform/energy_trend s/2003/dec_03.pdf.