Government plans to generate 30 per cent of UK electricity from renewable sources by 2020 are doomed to failure, according to the chief executive of one of the world's biggest utility companies. Wulf Bernotat, chief executive of E.ON, said that British politicians needed to stop misleading the public about what was achievable. He said that British plans to build 33 gigawatts of offshore wind power, up from 0.6 gigawatts at present, was impossible, given the necessary investment and relatively short timeframe.

Senior energy executives have called on ministers to come clean about the costs of the Government's ambitious plans for a green energy revolution. Government ministers have eagerly publicised in recent months tough new carbon reduction targets and an array of initiatives that will be needed to meet those demands, such as biomass and wind power generation and carbon capture and sequestration technology - "green" measures that play well with the electorate. ...But signs are emerging that energy companies are tiring of taking the flak for higher tariffs that are increasingly a direct result of government policy. Paul Golby, the head of E.ON UK, said: "We need our politicians to stand up to the mark a bit more and be honest about the costs. It doesn't come for free. Energy is going to cost more in the future."

One of Britain's leading energy providers warned yesterday that Britain will need substantial fossil fuel generation to back up the renewable energy it needs to meet European Union targets. The UK has to meet a target of 15% of energy from renewables by 2020. E.ON said that it could take 50 gigawatts of renewable electricity generation to meet the EU target. But it would require up to 90% of this amount as backup from coal and gas plants to ensure supply when intermittent renewable supplies were not available.

The European Commission is expected to introduce a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that directs the largest slices of €50 billion available for research and development to solar power and capturing and burying emissions from coal plants. ...Christian Kjaer, the chief executive of the European Wind Energy Association, ...questioned the decision to give nuclear power and carbon-capture technologies significantly more than wind, which would receive €6 billion.

NSW risks losing $9 billion in energy investment if it fails to make a quarter of the state's electricity green by 2020, says a report to be released today. High-tech companies have confirmed they will abandon projects combating climate change and go overseas if Premier Morris Iemma does not do more to help. With a national scheme about to expire, the companies want new state laws to force electricity retailers to buy energy that is generated using solar power, wind or waste instead of fossil fuels, which are blamed for climate change.

BABCOCK & Brown could bring $1 billion worth of new wind energy projects on stream in Australia following the Rudd Government's commitment to having 20 per cent of energy use in the form of renewable energy by 2020. The chief executive of Babcock & Brown Wind Partners, Miles George, said this could involve 500 megawatts of new wind power projects around Australia, where development had been put on hold because of uncertainties about the federal Government's energy policies. "Babcock & Brown has developments in Australia which have effectively been put on hold because of the hiatus in federal government policy over renewable energy," Mr George said inan interview with The Australian. "The company has leased sites all around Australia which are likely to be revisited now there has been a change of government." At the moment, wind power represents only about 1 per cent of Australian energy use.

An economist at the University of Guelph says if Ontario's experiment with green energy is similar to what's happened in the European Union (EU), the province can look forward to higher taxes, a net loss of jobs, and little difference in terms of green house gas emissions.

"We have been postponing" decisions concerning renewable energies, said António Mexia, the chief executive of Energias de Portugal, a major European utility with worldwide investments. The weak economy had "stopped more or less everything everywhere," he said.

Following the reshuffle, Mr Davey told officials that he would take over responsibility for many of the issues that Mr Hendry had overseen. An official Whitehall list of ministerial responsibilities has recently been updated to add "renewable energy strategy" to Mr Davey's portfolio.

In an interview with The Journal Mr Davey disagreed with those opposed to wind farms in place across Northumberland, saying that while it is not his place to say what people should like, critics had to realise "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of the French-owned EDF Energy, which plans to build at least four new reactors in Britain at a cost of about £20bn, argues that nuclear is "the cheapest, large-scale, low-carbon electricity source", costing less than half as much as offshore wind power.

London's main electricity supplier EDF Energy has given its strongest commitment yet to finance, build and operate new nuclear power stations in the UK and ditch its dirty coal installations as part of a major commitment to climate change. EDF, the UK arm of the giant Electricité de France which runs a host of nuclear power stations across the Channel, admitted it will have to go nuclear in the UK if it is to meet ambitious targets set today of cutting its carbon dioxide emissions in the UK by 60% over the next dozen years.

The contracts are subject to approval by the California Public Utilities Commission. "We hope to add even more prospective contracts to our renewable energy portfolio from our 2007 competitive solicitation," said Stuart Hemphill, Southern California Edison's director of Renewable and Alternative Power. The deal with Ormat is for energy from a new 30 MW geothermal plant to be built in Imperial Valley, Calif., and expected to come on line by mid 2012. The agreement includes an option to increase capacity at the Imperial Valley facility to 100 MW. "We are very happy to bring more baseload through clean geothermal energy to California," said Dita Bronicki, CEO of Ormat.

"Mainers are paying $326 million per year above the average American for our energy," said LePage. He targeted wind power as a major contributor for that high number. "It's a big number. Why? Because we have some groups in Maine that are greedy. ..."Wind is costing us dearly. It's costing us jobs, it's costing us investment and it's costing us big."

A draft utility industry analysis of comprehensive climate change legislation awaiting Senate floor action concludes that the bill would sharply raise electricity prices, force many utilities to switch from coal-fired generation to natural gas, and impose an average cost of $1,500 on every U.S. household beginning in 2015. ...Fuel-switching by 2020 would increase natural gas wellhead prices by 22% above projected levels, while prices for coal, which now produces roughly half of all electricity, would fall to 30% by that year as more than 37% of existing coal-fired generation would be retired, CRA said.

Rep. Dennis Hedke, said the pushback against renewable energy standards is about 2.9 million Kansans who are seeing higher energy rates that he says are driven largely by government mandates to use alternative energy sources. Hedke said electrical rates have increased 37 percent since 2008.

Power prices could triple under the Federal Government's blueprint to fight climate change, the nation's electricity market operator says. The independent regulator modelled the impact of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's proposed emissions trading scheme and renewable energy targets on the wholesale price of electricity. It found the wholesale price could rise from $30 a megawatt hour to about $90 by 2020.

No Cape and Islands subject has impacted the governor’s race like the controversial proposal by Cape Wind to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound.

Kenderdine said a large number of states that have passed renewable energy quotas for their utilities may find those requirements in danger, once new governors take office. In Maine, meanwhile, the push for developing wind power both on land and offshore may lose steam under LePage as the new governor, Rothstein said.

A Delmarva Power consultant estimates that three land-based wind contracts will cost residential customers the equivalent of 24 cents more a month over the life of the contracts. The estimate was part of a package of financial information Delmarva has submitted to the Public Service Commission, which will consider approval of the company's land-based wind power contracts in the coming months.