Renew On Line (UK) 35

3. UK still low on EU League Table

The European Parliament has now formally accepted the new Renewables Directive (see Renew 134), which sets voluntary targets (see chart) for each EU country. Note these figures exclude large hydro, which reduces the difference between the figures for the UK and for countries like Austria and Sweden, which obtain much of their electricity from hydro. Some of the national targets have also been slightly reduced from the draft version (see Renew 128), but the overall goal is still to obtain 12.5% of the EU"s electricity from renewables by 2010.

EU Directive 2010 Targets

Electricity from Renewables (%) (exluding large hydro)
Denmark	29.0
Finland	21.7
Portugal	21.5
Austria	21.1
Spain	17.5
Sweden	15.7
Greece	14.5
Italy	14.9
Netherlands	12.0
Ireland	11.7
Germany	10.3
UK	9.3
France	8.9
Belgium	5.8
Luxembourg	5.7
EU 15	12.5 %

But even with the changes, the UK still remains near the bottom of the league, with only Belgium and Luxembourg having lower targets, although they are now joined by France. After a long battle between free marketeers and those keen on REFIT type subsidy systems, variations in national financial support systems will be allowed to continue for at least four years, but then the EC will aim for ‘harmonisation’ in order to reduce barriers between national markets.