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Renewable Energy

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the final funding settlement is for the renewables industry in the current funding programme for renewable energy. [20213]

 
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Malcolm Wicks: I assume the question refers to the low carbon buildings programme, which is due to start in April 2006, subject to state aids clearance and for which the Government have just announced a budget of £30 million over three years.

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the final deadlines are for grant funding applications to the (a) Clear Skies and (b) solar photovoltaics major demonstration programmes. [22212]

Malcolm Wicks: The information is as follows.

(a) The final deadline for Clear Skies community applications was 4 November. For householders there is no set date, grants will be offered up until March 2006 unless forecasting shows that funding will run out sooner, in which case a month's notice will be given.

(b) For the PV demonstration programme the final stream 2 deadline will be in February. For household application grants will be offered up until March 2006 unless forecasting shows funding will run out sooner, in which case a month's notice will be given.

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the (a) Clear Skies and (b) Solar Photovoltaics Major Demonstration Programmes will end; when their successor programmes will begin; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure continuity in the renewables sector. [22337]

Malcolm Wicks: The information is as follows:

(a) The Clear Skies Programme and Photovoltaics Demonstration Programme end in March 2006.

(b) The new Low Carbon Buildings Programme is due to start in April 2006.

£1.5 million of the £30 million budget has been brought forward to the existing programmes to ensure there is a minimal gap between their end and the start of the new programme.

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the number of (a) residential and (b) commercial properties (i) contracting to receive renewable energy and (ii) using on-site renewable generation in each year since 1997. [23482]

Malcolm Wicks: No estimates have been made of the number of residential and commercial properties contracted to receive renewable energy, or using on-site renewable generation, in each year since 1997.

In 2004, 3.1 per cent. of electricity came from renewable energy sources eligible under the Renewables Obligation, enough to supply over 2 million households.

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funding has been made available for renewable energy sources in the UK in each year since 1997. [24660]

Malcolm Wicks: It has not been possible to collate all public expenditure and other Government support since 1997 for energy technologies in the time available at proportionate cost. However, it is possible to detail direct DTI and Research Council expenditure on renewables energy. These are set out in the tables.
 
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In addition to this both DEFRA and the Scottish Executive provide funding to the Carbon Trust which conducts research into low carbon energy activities
 
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among other activities. DEFRA also funds research into combined heat and power, which is also detailed in the tables as follows.
DTI new and renewable energy programme—external spend for each technology area by financial year from 1997–98(rounded to nearest thousand)

	Spend
Programme area	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
Bio wastes	75,000	48,000	25,000	56,000	13,000	42,000	25,9000	—
Biomass	1,317,000	1,076,000	1,585,000	1,267,000	1,333,000	1,595,000	1,346,000	974,222
Embedded generation	586,000	530,000	596,000	589,000	776,000	1,424,000	725,000	1,105,640
Fuel cells	900,000	1,197,000	1,168,000	1,410,000	1,249,000	1,200,000	1,701,000	4,907,430
Geothermal—aquifers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Geothermal—hot dry rocks	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hydro	57,000	80,000	138,000	60,000	130,000	200,000	85,000	0
Solar	1,660,000	983,000	1,278,000	1,264,000	1,522,000	4,485,000	3,131,000	1,970,340
Tidal	0	0	0	27,000	305,000	1,996,000	2,914,000	1,268,530
Wave	0	91,000	11,000	331,000	662,000	748,000	2,104,000	—
Wind	1,240,000	950,000	801,000	913,000	1,248,000	1,428,000	1,395,000	1,459,600

Notes:
1. From 2000–01, figures do not include spend on contracts placed direct by DTI.
2. For 2004–05, highlighted cells show a combined spend for the two areas.





£

DTI capital grant programmes	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
Biomass (DTI and lottery spend)	—	—	—	—	—	—	10,000	1,913,000
Offshore wind capital grants	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	15,000,000
Clear skies community renewables	—	—	—	—	—	—	200,000	1,387,000
Major PV demo programme	—	—	—	—	—	960,000	2,880,000	6,450,000
DEFRA CHP programme	1,000,000	1,300,000	1,900,000	2,500,000	2,800,000	1,600,000	2,500,000	2,000,000

Note:
Several indirect measures of state support for CHP were introduced in 2001–02. Of those that can be enumerated, climate change levy exemption on fuel inputs to good quality CHP and good quality CHP electricity outputs were valued at up to £80 million per annum, while eligibility for enhanced capital allowances is worth in the region of 10m per annum to the industry. Capital grants for community energy programme schemes were introduced in 2002–03 and the spend on schemes including CHP was: £427,000 in 2002–03, £4,315,000 in 2003–04 and £4,896,000 in 2004–05.





Research council spend

Programme area	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
Biofuel	0	0	0	21,540	51,545	143,990	134,929	92,325
Biomass	446,665	870,970	736,434	600,811	700,790	783,026	1,042,526	1,186,257
CHP	4,382	36,297	63,210	77,166	267,313	356,756	225,905	70,791
CO2 sequestration	0	0	0	22,544	41,589	77,787	30,323	42,461
Fuel cells	887,584	1,011,524	703,128	898,637	1,145,076	1,468,042	1,193,165	917,608
Hydrogen	30,348	135,531	59,169	82,976	318,500	516,560	1,494,155	1,495,130
Solar	1,439,835	1,286,000	1,076,000	1,134,000	1,130,000	1,157,000	1,453,023	1,753,334
Photovoltaic	2,254,756	3,001,835	2,759,517	2,991,977	3,536,428	2,770,354	2,381,044	2,761,866
Wave and tidal	0	157,000	175,000	300,599	605,693	616,694	830,226	1,050,253
Wind	199,847	225,903	177,716	260,596	330,283	490,447	481,572	255,672
Wind/solar(7)	0	21,000	21,000	100,000	0	0	0	0
Wind/wave(8)	0	28,000	28,000	28,000	28,000	28.000	28,000	28,000
Waste	66,012	9,985	39,652	39,962	95,718	124,826	169,024	154,474
Geothermal	0	0	0	40,493	64,550	63,550	73,460	79,429
Storage	325,808	649,899	669,617	837,918	888,602	809,871	730,182	499,536
Networks	1,347,678	1,167,695	1,081,132	919,165	1,114,793	1,388,490	1,804,749	2,463,125

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps have been taken to ensure that there is adequate funding for renewable energy sources in the UK. [24661]

Malcolm Wicks: The Renewables Obligation is the Government's main policy to support renewables. The value of the obligation rises every year and will be worth around £l billion by 2010. On top of this the Government have also committed to further support renewables with £500 million of support for research, development and demonstration of a range of renewable technologies between 2002 and 2008.

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on funding targets set for renewable energy sources in the UK; and whether funding targets have been met. [24707]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 3 November 2005]: The Government do not have funding targets for renewable energy. The Government have a target of
 
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10 per cent. of electricity from eligible sources of renewable energy by 2010, with an aspiration to double that by 2020.

To support progress towards the Government's renewables target we introduced the renewables obligation (RO) in 2002. The RO requires electricity suppliers to source an increasing proportion of their electricity sales from renewable sources. The RO, together with exemption for renewables from the climate change levy, is expected to provide support to industry of around £1 billion a year by 2010.

We have also allocated support of around £500 million, between 2002 and 2008, for capital grants and research and development, to help develop renewable and other low carbon technologies.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on (a) proposals to replace the Major Photovoltaic Demonstration Programme and the Clear Skies Initiative and (b) the resources to be made available for new programmes. [24929]

Malcolm Wicks: A new Low Carbon Buildings Programme will supersede the current programmes. This is due to start in April 2006, subject to State Aids approval, with a budget of £30 million over a 3-year period.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the impact on future investment decisions of his decision not to confirm an extension to the renewables obligation beyond 2015. [25032]

Malcolm Wicks: The renewables obligation already continues beyond 2015 to 2027. Under the ongoing review of the renewables obligation, the Government have set out its position that it do not consider that any additional announcements on obligation levels beyond 2015–16 are necessary at this stage.

Given the current gap between ROC-eligible renewable energy generation (3.1 per cent. in 2004) and the obligation level for 2015–16 (15.4 per cent.), we consider that there remain strong incentives within the RO to make new investments in renewable

energy.

This position has been extensively discussed with industry and other stakeholders as part of the ongoing consultation.

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