Fifty times more (British) wind turbines (at sea) by 2020

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/01/15/eawind115.xml

Fifty times more wind turbines by 2020

By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
Last Updated: 8:01pm GMT 15/01/2008

Britain will have to install six times more wind turbines on land and 50 times more wind turbines at sea by the end of the next decade under rules to be announced by Brussels next week.

Experts say that EU's country-by-country share-out of targets for renewables will mean that Britain has to generate nearly 40 per cent of its electricity by renewable means to help tackle global warming.

This is because the mandatory target which EU sources say Britain will face is 13-14 per cent of total energy use to come from renewable sources by 2020 - up from 2 per cent today. It applies to total energy use, not just electricity generation as targets have in the past.

This target was signed up to by Tony Blair, who defied advice from business leaders and ministerial colleagues that it would be hard to meet at a summit of EU leaders last March. It was confirmed by Gordon Brown in the autumn.

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