UK launches "green revolution" energy plan

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain set out plans on Thursday for a 10-fold increase in renewable energy within 12 years in a scheme welcomed for its ambition but criticized for lacking concrete policies to cut carbon emissions and reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

The government's proposals for meeting its 2020 target of getting 15 percent of all energy from renewable sources foresees about one third of Britain's electricity coming from renewables and is expected to involve 100 billion pounds of investment.

"This is a green revolution in the making... It is the most dramatic change in our energy policy since the advent of nuclear power," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the launch in London's Tate Modern.

"I'm absolutely certain that this is the right course for this country," the UK leader said at the old coal fired power station turned art gallery.

The proposals include boosting support and removing planning obstacles for clean energy projects to get 4,000 more wind turbines erected onshore and 3,000 more at sea by 2020, while increasing help for renewable heat, power and microgeneration.

Although the plans were widely welcomed, industry observers and environmentalists encouraged by the government's broader approach to clean energies warned that yet another consultation was wasting time.

"While the government should be applauded for taking a more holistic view on all forms of renewable energy, another period of policy review and consultation cannot be so warmly welcomed," Ben Warren, a clean energy director at Ernst & Young said.

"The time for talking is surely over -- as we get ever nearer to 2020 some tough decisions need to be made."

Britain's Renewable Energy Association criticized the government for talking a lot and doing little, while engineering representatives warned it had totally underestimated the problems with building so many wind farms in such a short space of time.

Britain gets only about 5 percent of its electricity from renewables, largely because planning and grid connection problems have stunted the growth of the industry, but turbine manufacturers are already struggling to meet rapidly growing global demand.

The government wants the nationwide expansion of renewable energy to be complimented by new nuclear power stations and "clean coal" power plants which could bury the harmful carbon emissions from them.

Environmentalists Friends of the Earth said it was "good news that the Government is now waking up to the huge untapped potential for clean energy" and that if it could back the plans with concrete policy changes coal-fired power stations should not be needed.

UK energy network operator National Grid said the 2020 target could be achieved, if backed by the whole industry and supported by reforms set out in the Planning Bill -- which faces a vote in the Lords after getting through the Commons on Wednesday -- and a new offshore regulatory framework.

The government hopes some 160,000 jobs could be created in the renewables sector, with 100,000 more potential jobs for building and operating the new nuclear power stations that the government wants private companies to build.

(Reporting by Daniel Fineren)