E.ON UK says British renewable target very hard to hit

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will find it very hard to hit the renewable energy target set for it by the European Commission last week, the head of giant power utility E.ON UK said on Wednesday.

The Commission, allocating national targets in order to meet the 20 percent overall goal agreed by environment ministers last March, said on January 23 Britain must get 15 percent of its total energy supply from renewables like wind and waves by 2020.

"That is going to be exceptionally challenging," E.ON chief executive Paul Golby told Reuters after giving evidence on renewable energy to a parliamentary committee.

"Getting 15 percent of energy from renewables translates into getting 35 to 40 percent from electricity. We are nowhere near that and the obstacles getting there are formidable."

Britain currently gets barely two percent of its energy from renewables, primarily wind power, which translates as about five percent of its electricity.

The drive for more renewable energy comes as scientists say global average temperatures will rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius this century due to carbon gas emissions from burning fossil fuels for power and transport.

MULTIPLE OBSTACLES

Golby said there were multiple obstacles in the way of Britain increasing seven-fold the contribution of renewables to the total energy mix.