[holding answer 5 February 2008]: The Government have in place a comprehensive range of initiatives that encourage the development of marine energy, including tidal power. The Government's main mechanism for supporting renewable energy is the renewables obligation (RO). On 10 January I announced, in our plans to reform the RO, a doubling of support to tidal barrages and lagoons up to 1 gigawatt and to tidal-stream technologies. Details can be found at:
www.berr.gov.uk/energy/whitepaper/consultations/renewables-obligation/page39555.html
The £50 million ‘Marine Renewables Deployment Fund’ provides a package of measures to support the commercial-scale demonstration of new tidal-stream devices. Details can be found at:
www.berr.gov.uk/energy/sources/renewables/funding/marine/page19419.html
On 22 January the Government announced the detailed terms of reference for a feasibility study that will look into the potential for tidal power in the Severn estuary. Further details of the study can be found at:
www.berr.gov.uk/energy/sources/renewables/explained/wavetidal/tidal/severntidalpower/page41473.html
In addition, support for research and development into tidal power technologies is available through the Research Councils’ SUPERGEN programme and the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) which is a joint Government and industry initiative. Details of the ETIs first call for tidal and wave power projects, launched on 17 December 2007 can be seen at:
www.energytechnologies.co.uk/technology-programmes/current-programmes/marine-wave-and-tidal/