U.K. renewable-energy investment has totaled almost 2.5 billion pounds ($3.8 billion) so far this financial year as companies from Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) to Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) committed funds, the government said.
Renewable-power plants, equipment factories and services to the alternative-energy industry announced since the April 1 start of the tax year will create 11,619 jobs, the Department for Energy and Climate Change said today in a website report.
Britain is working toward a European Union goal of getting 15 percent of energy from clean sources by 2020. In a separate study today, the department said renewable-energy consumption rose 27 percent from 2008 through 2010. That means biofuels, wind, solar and other alternatives to fossil fuels and nuclear account for 3.3 percent of energy for heat, transport and power.
"Renewable energy is not just helping us increase our energy security and reduce our emissions," Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said in an e-mailed statement. "It is supporting jobs and growth across the country, and giving traditional industrial heartlands the opportunity to thrive again."
Projects detailed in today's investment study include a 10 million-pound investment by Japanese carmaker Toyota in solar panels at a plant in Derbyshire, a wind-turbine factory planned by Aarhus, Denmark-based Vestas in Kent, southeast England, and wind-farm contracts involving German utility RWE AG. (RWE) The study lists projects announced from April 1 through Nov. 16.
Yorkshire tops the regional table of announced investments, with 469 million pounds and 2,501 jobs, followed by Wales with 430 million pounds and 849 jobs, southwest England with 356 million pounds and 22 jobs and Scotland with 315 million pounds and 2,422 jobs. London had just 7 million pounds of announced investments, while southeast England had a total of 261 million pounds of announced spending and 2,081 jobs created.
