LONDON, June 15 (UPI) -- So-called green taxes in the United Kingdom used to pay for more wind power are making it too expensive for wind turbine components, a group said.
The tax measures are intended to fund efforts to generate about 30 percent of the country's electricity from wind energy by 2020.
Heavy industrial sectors like cement and steel, however, face heavy tax burdens under the so-called green tax. The Confederation of British Industry said some measures meant to encourage renewable energy are counterproductive.
CBI Director General John Cridland told delegates at a London conference the government should consider giving exemptions to certain manufactures tied to the low-carbon economy.
"One major construction company is now finding it will soon cost less to import its cement from Spain than to produce it at its U.K. plant," he was quoted by The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London as saying.
Cridland added it takes more than 150 tons of cement per megawatt of offshore wind capacity.
British Energy Minister Charles Hendry said the government was determined to meet its renewable energy goals.
"We are committed to meeting this and in doing so bring a massive boost to the U.K.'s manufacturing industries," he was quoted as saying.
