Bloomberg Press Release
Issue Date: Thursday June 26, 2008
British Government Target for Renewable Electricity
Prime Minister Gordon Brown revealed government's plans towards generating 35% of U.K. electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
Among many other investments, the program predicts the construction of 7,000 wind turbines which will "turn the North Sea and other coastal waters into the equivalent for wind power of what the Gulf of Arabia is for the oil industry," Brown stated in his speech given in London.
Currently Britain's energy from solar and wind power, as well as other renewable sources is less than only 4%. Therefore, British industry will need to invest over 100 billion pounds in the next 12 years, in order to produce 15% energy coming from renewable sources and to meet European Union criteria.
If successful, U.K.'s environment will be less polluted by coal and it is estimated that 160,000 jobs will be created as well as another 100,000 in the nuclear power station sectors. However, this "won't happen without action," said John Sauven, who is currently a director of Greenpeace. He did admit though that "if the government actually means it this time, then we could create jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and use less gas, and in the long run our power bills will come down."
Prime Minister admitted that generating more renewable electricity will improve Britain's energy security because the diversity of supply will be greater. Also, he stated that most renewable sources do not contribute to global warming and that these new energy technologies will bring reduced bills and creation of thousands of new business ventures.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net or Paul Dobson in London at pdobson@bloomberg.net
Source: www.bloomberg.com