NEW MINISTER APPOINTED

1 September 1994

A new minister has been appointed to take charge of renewable energy following the government's latest re-shuffle. Ian Taylor joins the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as Trade and Technology Minister. His portfolio includes telecommunications, industrial research establishments, British National Space Centre as well as environment and energy technologies, including renewables. Former Energy Minister Tim Eggar increases his responsibilities to become Minister for Industry and Energy, but he ditches his renewables role. Part of Taylor's new role will be to award contracts to schemes in the forthcoming round of the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO) which provides market incentives for renewable energy developers. Taylor is no newcomer to renewables having previously been adviser to Nextgen, a company bidding to generate electricity by burning chicken litter.