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Scottish renewable energy projects are in line for more than £100m of European Commission funding.

Among the projects to benefit are a proposed hub for a sea-bed electricity power grid, and a demonstration zone for wind turbines.

The funding is part of nearly £1.5bn that has been allocated by the European Commission to help cut carbon emissions in electricity generation.

One of the wind power projects to be given a high rating and proposed for support by the European Parliament has been put forward by a subsidiary of Perth-based Scottish and Southern Energy. If approved, it would get about £67m to help build a hub for an underwater electricity  grid connecting offshore wind, wave and tidal generators in the Scottish sector of the North Sea.

Two other projects are also being backed in the drive to build a wider North Sea power grid, linking the Netherlands with Denmark and with Norway.

About two thirds of the current European funding programme is to help develop technology for capturing carbon emissions and burying them under the seabed.

The European Commission is keen to see a low-carbon future. In a press release issued on October 7^th, they called for an additional €50bn in order to develop by 2020 the necessary technologies to address climate change, secure EU energy supply and ensure the competitiveness of our economies.

While €50bn may seem like a tall order with the economy barely out of recession, experts agree that the large-scale investment will pay off. The market for the technology is exploding, offering the prospect of massive earnings and millions of jobs for countries that take an early lead.

Currently the EU is spending about €3bn a year on research and development in clean energy. The plan calls for €8bn a year – so an additional €50bn over the next decade. The money would come from various sources – industry, banks, private investors, government. The plan is to select some two dozen European cities to pioneer green technologies.

Fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal account for up to 80% of the EU’s current energy supply. More than 50% of the EU’s energy comes from countries outside the bloc.

Whilst the UK government seems to plunge nearly all its available resources into wind power, it’s refreshing to see that the European Commission is looking at alternative options. The Commission’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan calls for €16bn for solar power over the next 10 years, €13bn for carbon capture and storage, €7bn for nuclear and €6bn for wind.

Will this additional €50bn be enough to enable the EU countries to meet their renewable energy targets and secure a low-carbon future?

Tags: sea-bed electricty power grid, underwater electricity grid

This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 8:42 am and is filed under Renewable Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.