EU States Failing to Support Critical Renewable Energy Investment, According to New Report by London Research International

LONDON--(Business Wire)--
According to a new report published by London Research International (LRI) "The
European Renewable Electricity Sector 2009/10: A Country Comparison of Risks and
Opportunities", many EU countries arefailing to offer adequate financial and
institutional support forrenewable electricity generation. Consequently, they
are struggling to attract sufficient investment to meet their ambitious
EU-mandated 2020 renewable energy (RE) targets. This is despite a considerable
rise in public support in the EU for increased RE deployment and a reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions, between 2006 and 2008.

In the UK, planning delays and local opposition are undermining government
incentives offered to RE developers. The contribution of RE to final energy
consumption in the UK was just 1.5% in 2006 (up from 1.3% in 2005) which is well
below the EU 2020 target of 15%. The UK has a long way to go as confirmed by the
recent report from the Committee on Climate Change, led by Lord Turner. Many
other EU countries require similarly significant increases in RE production.

Key findings include:

* Spanish and German solar power markets experienced rapid growth in the last
year.
* The greatest opportunities for the expansion of renewable electricity
generation remain in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Germany.
* The lowest risks to renewable electricity investment are in Austria, Denmark
and Germany, followed by the Czech Republic, Finland and Spain.
* Risks are higher in the new EU member states of Romania and Slovakia.
* Belgium, the UK and Italy all require additional investment in power
generation, but planning risks and the lack of an attractive incentive scheme
are discouraging this.
* Despite having excellent resources for renewable electricity generation, grid
access and planning permission risks in Greece and Italy are relatively high and
thus growth is slower than in other southern European states such as Spain.
* Apart from large hydro, biomass and onshore wind are the most established
technologies for renewable electricity generation.
* Advanced forms of biogas, such as anaerobic digestion (AD), hold the potential
to follow biomass as an established generation technology across the EU.
* As advances in solar power technology continue, solar power generation is
expected to increase across the EU.

Access report at:
www.redatabase.com/multi-country_reports.php,
www.redatabase.com

Notes:

London Research International Ltd (LRI) is a rapidly growing provider of
international research, consulting and marketing services. Through its newly
launched renewable energy portal, www.redatabase.com, LRI aims to support
increased deployment of renewable energy by providing reliable, accurate and
quality renewable energy information. LRI clients include major international
companies, research institutions and government offices.

For The European Renewable Electricity Sector 2009/10: A Country Comparison of
Risks and Opportunities, London Research International (LRI) used a series of
indices to provide a detailed rating of all of the key areas related to
investing in the renewable electricity sectors of a sample of 20 EU member
states. The research is unique in its use of multiple measures to develop five
indices, which accurately and numerically evaluate the risks and opportunities
of each member state`s renewable electricity sector. A sixth non-numeric index
provides an analysis of the emerging and established technologies that are
currently adequately supported through government incentives or have the
potential for growth. The opportunity indices measure government incentives and
power market demand and also review established/emerging technologies in the
sector. The risk indices measure political will, grid connection problems and
planning permission challenges. An additional comparison of the year-on-year
changes in opportunities and risk indices is included in the report.

The European Renewable Electricity Sector 2009/10: A Country Comparison of Risks
and Opportunities is the second in this series. The publication is updated on an
annual basis in order to provide a benchmark against which to measure the
progress of the EU member states in achieving their commitments to increase the
share of renewable electricity to their total consumption. It is aimed at
investors, government and policymakers, opinion leaders, educational
institutions and environmental groups. Specifically, the research can be used as
a guide by institutional investors to identify investment opportunities and
assess the level of risk and attractiveness associated in this sector across the
EU.

LRI also recently released, `The European Power Sector Analysis: Vertical
Integration and Progress towards Grid Parity`.

See www.REdatabase.comfor all reports.

London Research International Ltd
Dr.Seena Rejal or Richard Carlson
Tel: +44 (0)20 7378 7300
Fax: +44 (0)20 7183 1899
Email: info@redatabase.com
or info@LondonResearchInternational.com
www.LondonResearchInternational.com

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