To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the value was of renewable energy generating equipment imported into the UK in the last five years; and what the value of such equipment manufactured in the UK was over the same period. (164040)

The renewable energy generation market was worth of the order of £800 million in 2006 and is set to grow in future years; this figure covers more than just equipment.

The Office for National Statistics publishes detailed breakdowns of data on trade in and manufacturer sales of generation equipment in their annual publication “PRA31100 Product Sales and Trade: Electric Motors, Generators and Transformers”; these figures do not distinguish between generating equipment used for renewable energy and that used for other purposes. The data can be accessed from:

www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/product.asp?vlnk=8101