NEW STRATEGY SETS AMBITIOUS TARGETS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY IN THE SOUTH EAST

BY 2026, AT LEAST 14% OF THE SOUTH EAST'S ELECTRICITY SHOULD BE SUPPLIED FROM RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES, especially solar and wind energy. This is the key message of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Strategy which is being launched on 24 October in Woking.

The Assembly's strategy - entitled 'Harnessing the Elements' - sets out a vision for the substantial increase in the efficiency of energy use and the proportion of energy supplied by renewable sources in the South East. By 2010 the South East should generate at least 4% of its electricity from renewable sources and by 2026 at least 14%. This compares with a tiny amount today of only 0.05%.

Details of the Strategy, which provides a regional framework to help action these targets, will be unveiled at a consultation launch at the H.G. Wells Suite, Woking on 24 October. Speakers at the launch include Mike Gwilliam, the Assembly's Director of Planning and Transport, Paul Martin, Regional Director of GOSE, Kit Oliver, a SEEDA board member and Cllr Armitage of Woking Borough Council.

Mike Gwilliam, Director of Planning and Transport at the Assembly, said: "The Government has committed itself to reducing greenhouse emissions significantly. In order to do this, the whole of the country needs to find more efficient ways to use energy and also find new renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy.

"This Strategy outlines what the South East can do to play its part. In the South East we have identified three key renewable energy sources- wind energy, solar energy and the energy generated from biomass such as wood, energy crops and agricultural residues. The Assembly believes that if these three sources are harnessed properly, the region has an excellent chance of achieving, and exceeding, the target of 14% before 2026."

Contact

Lesley van Dijk, PR Executive - 01483 555223

Alex Butlin, PR Executive - 01483 555221

Notes to editors:

1. The Regional Assembly is the “voluntary regional chamber” for the South East. It was established in January 1999 to give a representative voice to the South East region which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, and Surrey.
2. The Assembly is made up of 111 members including elected councillors nominated by the region’s local authorities and 37 representatives from other sectors of the community (including business, trades unions, education, housing, health, sports, culture, tourism, faith groups, environmental, community and voluntary organisations).
3. The Assembly has three areas of core business:
1. It is the representative voice of the South East, engaging and representing its member organisations and, through them, the wider public.
2. The Assembly has a specific role under the Regional Development Agencies' Act 1998 to ensure the accountability of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) to the region.
3. The Assembly has been the Regional Planning Body for the South East since April 2001. It has responsibility for proposing strategic planning and transport policies to Government.

Last updated: 21 August 2007