Renewable energy targets under fire

Date: 09/04/1998

By Chris Johnstone

THE European Commission is struggling to convince sceptical governments and electricity companies to support its ambitious plans to boost the role of renewable energy.

The Commission's aim of doubling renewable power's contribution to meeting EU needs from 6% to 12% by the year 2010 took a hesitant step forward last week when national energy experts accepted this goal as a non-binding target.

Boosting renewables is at the heart of the Commission's plans to meet its Kyoto climate change conference commitments to cut greenhouse gases produced from burning coal, gas and oil.

It would also ease some of the Commission's worries about the EU's overdependence on imported energy, which is set to climb to 75% of power consumption over the next 25 years from the current 50%.

However, some member states argue that any target, even the indicative one which the Commission has put forward, could raise hopes which governments will not be able to fulfil.

Opposition to the proposal is being led by Germany, which does not want to give any hostages to the future and particularly to its powerful 'green' lobby.

The UK, which has no hope of meeting a 12% target for renewables, has also blown hot and cold on the issue, with Industry Minister John Battle forced into denying any foot-dragging on his part.

Commission officials believe, however, that they have now won critics over to their calls for the institution to be given a key role in coordinating and filling in the gaps in national policies with its own renewables programme.

The electricity sector still remains doubtful about a Commission policy it has no hesitation about describing as "overambitious".

Most of the existing cheap options for renewables, such as hydro-electric power, are already being used, leaving only more costly forms of energy production to meet the proposed targets.

The Commission wants the electricity industry to double its take-up of renewable power to 30%. But European trade lobby Eurelectric claims this will be impossible without a rule change to force companies to buy more expensive 'green' energy, or the provision of subsidies to compensate for the extra production costs of renewable power.

It says the first option would require the re-regulation of a sector where liberalisation has only just been agreed and mean extra costs for consumers who are expecting price cuts, while the second would involve heavy spending by national governments.

Eurelectic believes its members would face considerable expense in connecting up remote wind or solar farms to national grids. It adds that power generated from such sources would be sporadic and hard to build into national supply systems. "The costs of integrating this energy are likely to double the capital costs," said a spokesman.

EU energy ministers are due to decide on their response to the Commission's strategy paper on renewables at their next meeting on 11 May.

Europe's current performance in promoting renewables is patchy. The UK's take-up of renewable power stands at around 4% of national consumption, compared with 7% in France, Denmark and Greece, 17.5% in Portugal, 19.3% in Finland, and 24% in Austria and Sweden.

Swedish enthusiasm for using renewable energy wherever possible is underlined by car manufacturer Volvo. It is currently advertising a car which runs on biogas by using a picture of the vehicle's fuel tank being refilled through a hose connected to a pile of manure.

The company has also developed a rubbish collection truck which can be powered by gas generated from the refuse it collects.