Watson - South West set to impress EU Energy Commissioner

9.06.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 3rd Oct 2008

On Monday 6 October at the invitation of local Liberal Democrat MEP Graham Watson, the European Union's Commissioner for Energy, Andris Peibalgs will be visiting the Westcountry on a fact finding tour examining the regions green energy plans.

Ahead of the visit Graham Watson commented;

"The South West is Britain's leading region for renewable energy and it is important that this is recognised in Brussels. The Regional Development Agency has put together a first class programme for the Commissioner's visit and I am sure he will be impressed."

Editors notes

This will be the Latvian EU Commissioner's second visit to the South West, in 2007 he opened the Cornwall Sustainable Energy Partnership Office.

The regions renewable energy sector is now worth £215 million a year for the South West's economy and has seen a massive 37% year on year growth in employment over the last 3 years.

The sector could expand further creating thousands more jobs under proposals outlined in the Government's Renewable Energy Strategy which is designed to help the UK meet targets of generating 15 % of its energy from renewables by 2020.