Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic & Labour Party). It was answered on Thursday, 20 July 2006 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Biomass Task Force

Question: I thank the Minister for his answer, but are the Government seriously committed? What serious capital grant is available for the biomass supply chain, whether from crops, trees or waste?

Answer: Yes, the Government are seriously committed to increasing biomass production. Our biomass capital grant scheme is allocating between £10 million and £15 million over the next couple of years; £66 million has been allocated to develop markets in biomass combined heat and power electricity generation and £80 million is available for microgeneration, which will include biomass technologies. There is a range of projects that we believe can come on stream. We would like to see the prediction in Ben Gill’s report that biomass could actually meet 6 per cent. of heat and electricity generation by 2020 fulfilled.

Secondary information