some more windmills, originally uploaded by vicirabi.

Wales to cash in on its natural resources in renewables with innovation in clean technology, with the growing financial opportunities in low carbon development.

By 2025, Wales hopes to generate all its electricity from renewable sources.

"We're very committed to achieving this goal but we can't do it on our own," said David Jones, vice president of International Business Wales, the trade and investment arm of the Welsh Assembly. "We realize that if it's just the public sector it probably would not happen so we had to try to encourage innovators to come to Wales."

Wales is well place to take advantage of it's natural resourse, with its windy weather, long coastline and huge tidal range in the River Severn Estuary, which will make the country a significant producer and exporter of green energy.

Investment in renewable energy in Wales has so far been around 1 billion (Sterling), this is set to rise to 26 billion (Sterling) with the Welsh Assembly Government's plans to increase green electricity to 16 gigawatts by 2025 from 400 megawatts at present.

Two huge projects are planned - the Severn Estuary tidal barrage costing 15 billion (Sterling) and the largest biomass plant in the world based Port Talbot is hoped to generate the bulk of electricity, while wind farms, biomass and marine energy such as wave power and tidal power would supplement the total.

Wales is also targeting and working to boost investment in clean technology, such as solar photovoltaic cells and hybrid cars as well as research into energy efficiency in buildings and power stations.

Wales is seen as a great location to set up a clean tech business, with access to skilled labor and it's universities for research and development in the field of clean technologies.

clean Tech Manufacture, Investment and Research Companies

G24 Innovations, recently invested 75 million (Dollars) in a factory in Wales to manufacture lightweight and durable silicon-free thin film solar cells to power mobile phone chargers in countries such as India and Africa where electricity grids are not common place.

Company president J. Clemens Betzel said "We found a very good site for the factory in Wales, the level of bureaucracy limited and the turnaround time on the site very quick as the land was owned by the Welsh Assembly Government".

G24i, which has contracts with Vodacom in Tanzania, Lesoto and Kenya and a distribution deal with the U.S.'s Bright Star Ventures Ltd., is planning to increase output this year to several million units as further deals develop with Motorola Inc. and Vodafone.

Vodacom, jointly owned by South Africa's Telkom SA Ltd. and the U.K.'s Vodafone Group PLC, hopes to expand the applications of its thin film to include chargers for laptops and other electronic devices such as surveillance systems and base stations for mobile telephone stations.

Connaught Engineering Ltd, produces a hybrid system that can be retro fitted to commercial vehicles, invested half of a 12 million (Sterling) investment package in South Wales where it plans to build a factory.

The company, which says its hybrid system increases fuel efficiency by 15-20% while reducing carbon emissions, expects orders of around 4,000 hybrid units a year once trials are completed this year with U.K. supermarket chain Tesco PLC, construction and engineering company Balfour Beatty, U.K. building company Rok PLC. and other businesses. It's also involved in the development of four other hybrid systems for other types of vehicles.

Connaught Engineering CEO Tony Martindale said "the strong automotive expertise in Wales, home to Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. engine manufacturing plants, combined with the research at Welsh universities would help the company to develop new products".

Other clean tech companies in Wales include Japan's Sharp Corp. the company's second largest outside Japan, which is doubling production capacity for solar photovoltaic modules at its plant in North Wales to 220 megawatts a year.

Ernst & Young's Johns said as well as attracting companies the Welsh Assembly Government is very skilled at getting funding from the U.K. government or from the European Union for research and development projects.

One such grant winner is Corus, the European arm of Tata Steel Ltd., and Australian solar photovoltaic company Dyesol Ltd. Recently secured funding from the Welsh Assembly for their joint project to develop solar cell technology on steel for building integrated photovoltaic applications.

The new "Wales Low Carbon Research Institute" is one of the research institutes expected to receive "significant" money from the European Union's 1.4 billion (Sterling) convergence fund for Wales. The institute has already received a grant of 5 million (Sterling) to increase the number of academics involved in low carbon research, but they're expected to get significantly more money from the E.U. fund, which has around 60 million (Sterling) for climate change projects and 100 million (Sterling) for innovation.

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