EU leaders today are going to try and agree on funding for a global deal to combat climate change – following the first day of talks which ended in deadlock.

Reaching an agreement on the last day of the EU summit in Brussels this week, would greatly improve efforts to reach a deal at the global climate change talks in Copenhagen in December, when the world will come together to hopefully agree on a new international agreement to tackle climate change, as the current international agreement, called the Kyoto Protocol, is due to expire in 2012.

The EU’s Swedish presidency had to draw up revised proposals after talks broke down yesterday, mainly because of a rift between nine countries from Eastern Europe battling it out with the richer member states over how the burden should be shared – stated Reuters.

Jose Manuel Barrosothe, president of the European Commission, said “It is extremely important that the EU keeps the leadership role we have had” after developing countries maintain they will not sign up to tackling climate change without enough funds from rich nations.

A draft statement from the Brussels summit indicated that the leaders of the 27 EU countries were preparing to back an estimate that developing nations need €100 billion ($148.2bn) a year by 2020 to tackle climate problems.

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Power-technology.com/ Industry News
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According to an issued Ofgem press release – the EIB and Ofgem E-Serve have today announced that the EIB is considering the provision of over £300 million of funding to investors in high voltage transmission links to offshore windfarms in Great Britain – This funding will be made available to six projects, forming the start of an important expansion of offshore generation to help meet the Government’s emissions reduction targets.

Ofgem, the UK’s Office for the Gas and Electricity Markets, promotes competition, wherever appropriate, whilst regulating the monopoly companies which run the gas and electricity networks, confirmed that together, these six transmission projects would connect approximately 1.6 gigawatts of offshore generation.

The six projects under consideration are as follows;

1.Sheringham Shoal Developer StatoilHydro, Statkraft
2.Ormonde Developer Vattenfall
3.Greater Gabbard Developer SSE/Airtricity,RWE Innogy
4.Thanet Developer Vattenfall
5. Walney 1 Developer DONG Energy
6. Walney 2 DONG Energy

Simon Brooks, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, states:

“The European Investment Bank welcomes Ofgem’s initiative in promoting this essential element of the UK’s renewable energy infrastructure. Electricity from offshore wind farms will make a key contribution to national power supply and help achieve 2020 emissions targets”

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) along with Ofgem E-Serve have already put in place competitive arrangements ensuring generators benefit from cost effective connections to the mainland electricity network and firms hoping to compete to run connections to these six projects are now invited to apply to the EIB for funding.

Lord Mogg, Ofgem’s Chairman commented:

“The EIB’s decision to consider these projects for funding of over £300 million is an important step forward for delivering competitively priced connections for offshore wind farms”

Full press release available www.gov.media.uk / Media