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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what studies they have commissioned on the potential contribution that the harnessing of hydropower from rivers may make to the UK's energy requirements.

Hydropower accounts for almost 2% of total electricity generation in the UK with a capacity of almost 2GW. Studies in Scotland, England and Wales indicate that there is a maximum remaining technical potential of around 1.5GW for small-scale hydro across these countries, with the majority in Scotland. Economic and environmental constraints mean that in practice the viable remaining resource is less than 1GW or 1% of total electricity generation capacity.