EU leaders should not spoil best chance for renewables: Turmes

Brussels (Platts)--24Jan2006

EU leaders should not lose sight of their goals to promote renewables and
efficiency when they meet to debate EU energy policy in March, Luxembourg
green MEP Claude Turmes said Monday.

     "British Prime Minister Tony Blair was successful in starting an energy
policy debate but the 25 leaders who will meet in March rarely have any
experience of energy and are being lobbied by the coal and nuclear industries.
There is a danger that they will say: 'renewables, we tried it. We have the
targests but look at the figures. It will remain marginal. We tried energy
efficiency too but sill power consumption rises.'

     "There is a risk that (EU energy commissioner) Andris Piebalgs' priorites
on energy efficiency and renwables will be sidelined as the date moves to how
we can get nukes back," Turmes said at a Cogen Europe conference on biomass
cogeneration in Brussels.

     "It has never been cheaper to support renewables than it is now, so if we
want to really go renewable, now is the time," Turmes said.
     
     UTILITIES BLAME RENEWABLES FOR HIGH PRICES BUT MAKE WINDFALL GAINS

     "I am annoyed that politicians point to the high cost of renewables when
you see that the eight biggest power utilities in Europe are making windfall
profits. Their costs haven't really increased because of renewables, but they
say this is behind high prices," Turmes said.

     He added that, by his estimates, Germany's big four utilities, EnBW, Eon,
RWE and Vattenfall stood to make profits of Eur8-bil in the current financial
year. Turmes also urged Europe's leaders to seize the opportunity to revive
combined heat and power now that oil and gas prices had risen and industrial
users were seeking more efficient alternatives to conventional power.

     "Between 1995 and 2000 there were 7,000 CHP projects in the pipeline in
Germany, but the electricity industry killed off 6,700 of them by offering
cheap power to industrial users. But now this era is over, there is a chance
for us to link up with industrial customers," Turmes said.

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