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ALTHOUGH the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development failed
to set any specific targets on the use of renewable energy, the East of
England is taking the lead in environmental protection and promoting the
use of renewable energy sources throughout the Region.
East Anglia will have the first Government backed commercial-sized
offshore wind farm in the United Kingdom. I'm delighted to say that Scroby
Sands Wind Farm, off Great Yarmouth, has secured a European Union grant
and will provide enough electricity for some 60,000 households by next
autumn. But while this development will put East Anglia at the centre of
renewable energy in the UK, I feel that we should be aiming for much more
ambitious targets. Denmark, for example, has already set a target of
generating 50% of its total electricity requirements by 2030 using wind
energy.
East Anglia's geographic location and wind patterns favour our
region to harness wind energy, both offshore and inland. If the UK were
able to match the Danish plan, we could generate more than three times the
UK’s current electricity needs. This would enable substantial export
through the EU grid and a massive 21% reduction in our CO2 emissions.
Therefore, I welcome the recent Greenpeace Report "Sea Wind
East", which proposes to create 40 wind farms off the shores of
Suffolk, Essex and Norfolk in order to supply 25% of the UK's current
electricity demand by the year 2020. This project will generate clean
electricity, attract £20bn in new inward investment and substantial
economic benefits to the region by creating up to 60,000 new jobs
Ecotricity, which built Swaffham’s landmark wind turbine, wants
to build six on a Greenfield hilltop site at Sedgeford, near Hunstanton in
Norfolk. This scheme would power more than 7,000 homes including the
Queen's Sandringham estate. The local community could take their
electricity straight from the turbines. The line of six 65m turbines –
around the same size as the one in Somerton, near Yarmouth – would be
built on land owned by the Sedgeford Hall estate, between Sedgeford and
Snettisham.
Conservation groups such as Greenpeace and the Royal Society for
the Protection of Birds are supportive as long as these turbines are
suitably sited. Such investment in wind energy offers new prospects for
our desperate farmers who have suffered big falls in their income due to
the ill-conceived Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU. The reforms
of the CAP will offer, under Pillar 2, possibility of EU funding for
diversification for farmers.
I support the use of renewable energy – both wind and biofuels
– and will be delighted to help any farmer, landlord or investor
contemplating such investment, especially here in west Suffolk. This
subject will be discussed at a seminar for SMEs (Small & Medium-sized
Enterprises) on "EU Funding Explained" held at Bury Lodge,
Stansted, Essex on October 11 (10.30am-2.30pm). Details are available from
Louise Fox, Tel: 00 32 228 47953 or email to
bkhanbhai@europarl.eu.int
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