UK says to struggle with its green energy targets

BRUSSELS Feb 2 (Reuters) - Britain could struggle to hit its target of getting 15 percent of its energy from renewable resources within the next decade, according to a UK government report submitted to the European Union.

Interim targets for the next six years will cause even greater problems.

The European Union's executive has been collating the energy forecasts of its 27 member nations to see if more needs to be done to cut climate-warming emissions.

Most have now replied saying they will hit their targets or over-achieve.

Britain submitted its forecast late on Monday, saying it was on track for its 15 percent goal if energy consumption remained at low or moderate levels.

Unless consumption remains stifled as it has been during the economic crisis, it could fail to hit any of its interim targets for the next six years.

"Our analysis suggests that the level of renewable energy expected to be deployed over the coming decade will be sufficient to meet the interim targets under assumptions of low overall energy demand," said the report, displayed on an EU website.

"However, if demand is higher, ie around the central or high projection, then we are less confident about achieving the first three interim targets," it added.

Those first three goals are for 4 percent renewables by 2012, 5.4 percent by 2014 and 7.5 percent by 2016.

By contrast, Portugal says it can probably go beyond its 31 percent target over the next decade, and may well be able to sell the excess green energy to help other EU states reach their goals.

Spain envisages getting 22.7 percent of its energy from renewable sources in 2020, ahead of its 20 percent target. (Reporting by Pete Harrison, editing by Anthony Barker)