Jan 24 - Independent, The; London (UK)

A rapid and vast expansion of renewable energy is on the way in Britain to help with the fight against climate change, it was revealed yesterday.

In a mere dozen years, the amount of UK electricity generated by renewable technologies such as wind, wave and tidal power will have to reach nearly half the national total, under ambitious plans put forward by the European Commission in Brussels.

The remarkable eight-fold expansion, from today's 5 per cent to about 40 per cent by 2020, or even more, represents a true energy revolution comparable in scale to the arrival of North Sea oil.

Most of it will have to be delivered by wind energy, especially offshore, as wind is the most developed technology available.

The number of wind turbines on land in Britain is likely to grow from just under 2,000 now to 5,000, according to the British Wind Energy Association. But the really substantial increase will be in offshore wind, with turbines installed in the seas around Britain's coasts likely to increase from just under 150, to about 7,500.

Meeting the target will also increase pressure on the Government to go ahead with the controversial tidal barrage across the Severn estuary, which is opposed by some conservationists on the grounds that it may damage valuable and protected wildlife sites.

But the tidal power the gigantic, 10-mile dam could provide about 5 per cent of Britain's electricity demand on its own. An initial study into the Severn barrage was announced by the Government on Tuesday. The new renewables regime - which does not include nuclear power - will also mean a rise in electricity prices, with EU officials yesterday suggesting it would be of the order of 15 per cent across the community, on top of any other energy price rises, by 2020.

The target outlined is double what the Government had in mind until recently in its most ambitious renewable energy projections, but when it is signed off by the EU member states, which is expected to happen some time in the next year, it will be legally binding.

Failure to meet it would mean Britain being dragged before the European Court.

It is part of the wide-ranging EU climate and energy strategy released yesterday, which commits the community as a whole to cut its total emissions of greenhouse gases by 20 per cent by 2020, and to source 20 per cent of its total energy demand from renewable sources by the same date.

EU heads of government, including Tony Blair for Britain, agreed these headline figures a year ago, but yesterday the Brussels Commission revealed how it proposed to share the burden among the 27 member states.

Britain will have to increase its renewable energy proportion of all energy demand, which includes transport and heating as well as electricity, from the current level of 1.3 per cent, the lowest figure in Europe apart from Malta and Luxembourg, to 15 per cent.

This implies an increase in the renewable proportion of UK electricity alone, from a fraction under 5 per cent currently, to about 40 per cent. These figures are still only proposals from Brussels, and will be the subject of horse-trading between the member states.

But it is unlikely that they can be changed substantially, and yesterday the Business Secretary of State, John Hutton, indicated that Britain would not be fighting too hard against them.

Mr Hutton said: "The UK remains committed to meeting its share of the EU renewables target, and the Commission's proposals are a welcome starting point for that discussion."

The proposals were widely welcomed yesterday by green groups.

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