ID :
13776
Fri, 07/25/2008 - 14:45
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/13776
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E.U. accuses Britain of blocking green energy laws
London, Jul 25 (PTI) - Britain has been accused of trying to water down tough new European legislation to boost the uptake of renewable energy, media reprots here saidThursday.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown had last month pledged tolaunch a "green revolution" based on clean technology.
The Guardian reported that documents obtained by it showed that the U.K. wants to block attempts to give renewable electricity sources such as wind farms priority access to thenational grid.
The European official who drafted the legislation accused Britain of "obstructing" E.U. efforts on renewables and said U.K. officials wanted to protect traditional energysuppliers and their coal, gas and nuclear power stations.
Claude Turmes, a Luxembourg M.E.P. and architect of the E.U. renewables directive, said, "This would take us backwards and would weaken the possibilities of connectingrenewable energy to the grid.
"A government that says it wants to promote renewablescannot go for other policies behind the scenes," Turmes said.
The renewables directive is intended to support an E.U. target to generate 20 percent of energy from renewablesources by 2020.
A spokesman for the D.B.E.R.R. said, "Priority access for renewables is not necessary for us to meet our fair shareof the E.U. renewables target.
"What renewable generators want is quicker access to the grid, not priority access. The U.K. is already taking significant steps to remove grid access barriers for renewables." John Sauven, of Greenpeace, said: "We've always said there was a danger that going for nuclear power would squeeze out renewables. The government has been caught red handed undermining clean energy, and all because of Brown'sideological obsession with atomic power.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown had last month pledged tolaunch a "green revolution" based on clean technology.
The Guardian reported that documents obtained by it showed that the U.K. wants to block attempts to give renewable electricity sources such as wind farms priority access to thenational grid.
The European official who drafted the legislation accused Britain of "obstructing" E.U. efforts on renewables and said U.K. officials wanted to protect traditional energysuppliers and their coal, gas and nuclear power stations.
Claude Turmes, a Luxembourg M.E.P. and architect of the E.U. renewables directive, said, "This would take us backwards and would weaken the possibilities of connectingrenewable energy to the grid.
"A government that says it wants to promote renewablescannot go for other policies behind the scenes," Turmes said.
The renewables directive is intended to support an E.U. target to generate 20 percent of energy from renewablesources by 2020.
A spokesman for the D.B.E.R.R. said, "Priority access for renewables is not necessary for us to meet our fair shareof the E.U. renewables target.
"What renewable generators want is quicker access to the grid, not priority access. The U.K. is already taking significant steps to remove grid access barriers for renewables." John Sauven, of Greenpeace, said: "We've always said there was a danger that going for nuclear power would squeeze out renewables. The government has been caught red handed undermining clean energy, and all because of Brown'sideological obsession with atomic power.
