Triodos Bank has launched a

major share issue in the UK,

enabling thousands of people to

take practical steps to combat

climate change by investing in

the renewable energy industry.

As well as a direct stake in clean

energy projects such as wind

farms, shareholders in Triodos

Renewables could earn a very

competitive financial return, with

projections of annual dividends

rising to over 12% within five

years. The Triodos Renewables

share issue aims to raise £5 mil-

lion from the public to invest in

a series of sensibly and sensitive-

ly sited projects across the UK.

Triodos Renewables aims to pro-

vide dividends of over 10%

within three years. Minimum

investment is £980 - or the

finance required to generate the

ongoing electricity needs of an

average household. The Fund

plans to invest the money it rais-

es in a variety of developments,

including projects helping farm-

ers to find alternative sources of

income, acquisitions of some of

the UK's best new renewable

energy projects and a small

stake in a large offshore project.

Longer term, Triodos

Renewables is developing new

sites, linking its community of

existing shareholders with local

people who could be affected by

new developments. As well as

direct lending to wind develop-

ers through Triodos Bank,

Triodos Renewables, trading as

The Triodos Renewable Energy

Fund, has financed innovative

projects, such as the Haverigg II

Wind Farm in Cumbria, and the

Beochlich Hydro Electric project

in Argyll in Scotland, in recent

years. Community-based initia-

tives are at the heart of Triodos

Bank's work. Triodos Bank is the

leading small-scale wind energy

finance organisation in Europe.

Triodos only finances enterprises

creating social, environmental or

cultural added value. Key sectors

include organic food and farm-

ing, renewable energy, social

housing and Fairtrade. Triodos

Bank is an independent bank

founded in The Netherlands in

1980. Its principles and inde-

pendence are protected through

a special shareholding trust. The

UK office opened in 1995 and is

based in Bristol.

www.triodos.co.uk

Czech senate passes RE Act

Czech Parliament has passed an

act supporting the production of

electricity from renewable energy

sources. The Renewables Act

should ensure an 8% share of

renewable energy in the Czech

Republic's gross domestic electric-

ity consumption by 2010, a tar-

get laid down in the Czech

Republic's accession treaty with

the EU. It is estimated that the

new legislation will lead to the

creation of 4,000 new jobs in

fuel (mainly biomass) production

and maintenance and about

23,000 new jobs in the produc-

tion of technologies and engi-

neering for the projects, with

new investment in the Czech

economy to exceed EUR 1.5 bil-

lion in the next five years. The

Renewables Act may also lead to

a saving of approximately 4 mil-

lion tons of annual carbon diox-

ide emissions by 2010. The

adopted support scheme provides

a 15-year guarantee of solid

feed-in tariffs, differentiated by

technology. Alternatively a pro-

ducer can switch to the so-called

"green boni" support system,

where a bonus is paid on top of

the market-sold electricity. The

act also has weak points accord-

ing to Friends of the Earth Czech

Republic. Its success partly

depends on how the Energy

Regulatory Office sets prices

which are not stated directly in

the text of the law. The ruling

states that it should be in such a

fashion that the pay-back time of

installations is less than 15 years.

There is also a rule that for new

installations the price cannot

drop less than 95% against the

level of those installations which

started in the previous year. Petr

Holub, Head of the Energy

Programme of Friends of the

Earth Czech Republic, comment-

ed: "This is a big step forward in

the development of renewable

energy in the Czech Republic.

The long-term guarantee of feed-

in tariffs is a crucial condition

that ensures the pay-back of the

investments and allows renew-

ables operators to gain access to

bank loans for their projects. On

the down side, some important

provisions will only be decided in

the additional legal notices.

Ultimately, though, this new

Czech Renewable Law is arguably

the most progressive in all of the

eight new EU member states."

For more information contact:

Petr Holub, Head of the Energy

Programme, Tel: +420-

604.177.711; E-mail:

petr.holub@hnutiduha.cz

General NEWS

6 reFOCUS May/June 2005 www.re-focus.net

Triodos launches Clean Energy fund

The UK government will fail to

meet its target of a 60% reduc-

tion in greenhouse gas emis-

sions by 2050 unless it signifi-

cantly steps up the switch away

from fossil fuels, according to

new research by independent

economics consultancy, Oxera.

The report reveals that the gov-

ernment's figures indicate a

deficit between actual and tar-

geted emissions of 40-60% by

2025, if the Climate Change

Programme remains

unchanged. Oxera calculates

that the government's 60% tar-

get for 2050 equates to a 1.9%

reduction in emissions annually.

The report author, Robin Smale

commented: 'The big question

now is how much of the target

will be delivered through

improvements in energy effi-

ciency, switching to the less car-

bon-intensive fossil fuels and

burying CO2 underground, and

how much will be delivered by

switching away from carbon-

emitting energy sources alto-

gether.' Oxera's research indi-

cates that carbon-burying and a

shift away from fossil fuels will

have to deliver the overwhelm-

ing majority of the target.

Under the government's exist-

ing Climate Change

Programme, energy suppliers

are subject to the Renewables

Obligation to provide 15% of

electricity from renewable

sources by 2015. Oxera calcula-

tions show that this would

deliver a 0.88% reduction in

CO2 emissions each year until

2020. Even if the electricity sec-

tor was subject to the econo-

my-wide target of 1.9%-which

would be conservative given

that the sector is responsible for

up to one-third of total UK

emissions-this would leave it

1.0% short of the required

improvement. An increase in

the RE target to 20% by 2020

would still be insufficient,

achieving only a further 0.31%

reduction. www.oxera.co.uk

Research finds UK set to miss emissions target