Britain says addressing green power industry woes

\"We realise that New Electricity Trading Arrangements (NETA) have created some negative effects for renewables and the new White Paper will address those issues,\" Brian Wilson told a London conference on renewable energy. Firms running green energy plants such as wind farms, which the government says are key to meeting its targets on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, complain NETA penalises them for their unpredictable output of power. Renewable energy firms have called on the government to alter elements of NETA to help them survive in a competitive market. \"Many emerging technologies have potential. The government has to help them become competitive,\" said Wilson. Green energy received a boost earlier this year with the launch of a renewables obligation in Britain which guarantees them revenues, encouraging financiers to back projects. Under the scheme, three percent of power sold by electricity suppliers must come from green energy sources, rising to 10.4 percent in 2011. Wilson restated the government\'s commitment to generating 10 percent of the country\'s power from renewables by 2010, a target questioned by some analysts. \"We are not going to write off the 2010 target in 2002,\" he said. \"There\'s a lot to be done, 10 percent is a tough target.\" At present less than three percent of UK\'s electricity is generated from renewable sources. Wilson said if the target was met, a total of 2.5 million tons of carbon emissions would be saved. \"That\'s important for meeting our Kyoto target,\" he said. The global Kyoto protocol aims to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by developed countries by 5.2 percent on 1990 levels by 2008-2012. Under the Kyoto pact, the UK agreed to cut its greenhouse gases by 12.5 percent in the same period. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE