Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include (1) hydropower, and (2) tidal lagoons, as elements in their new energy strategy.

The Government acknowledges the valuable contribution of hydropower to the GB energy mix over many decades. However, economic and environmental constraints mean that in practice the viable remaining resource is less than 1% of total generation capacity, and therefore hydroelectric generation will likely not be a significant contributor to the country's future generation portfolio.

The Government remains open to considering well-developed proposals for harnessing the tidal range energy in the bays and estuaries around the UK coast. Any such proposal would have to demonstrate strong evidence of value for money in the context of other low-carbon forms of generation before the Government could take a view on its potential.