Working party report on alternative energy

The general tonics discussed by the working party were problems regarding the choice of interest rates and the inflation rates of the cost of energy, with a view to comparing the merits of capital-intensive methods of obtaining energy (particularly hydro-based methods, such techniques having low operating costs) and conventional low-capital cost, high-running fuel cost energy technologies. The resolution of this question is of great importance to project' selection.

It is necessary to sell technologies to potential users, and important to understand at first hand their needs and requirements before embarking on any substantial programme of development. Few firms in the UK have a strong capability in the field of small scale energy technologies. One difficulty is that such technologies should be compatible with a high degree of local manufacture, and consequently manufacturers have little incentive to produce items for which a long-term market appears unlikely. In this connection it has been suggested that governments take a more active role, and help to identify overseas markets for technologies such as wave power, which is unlikely to be susceptible to local manufacture, but which nevertheless may be relevant. In this