YORKSHIRE will meet targets on renewable energy only if every wind power scheme which is currently proposed is built, a report says.

Research by Yorkshire Futures, which is responsible for compiling intelligence on the region, says that 13 square miles of countryside would have to be given over to wind farms to satisfy requirements.

The Yorkshire and Humber regional assembly set its own target for ten per cent of its energy to be provided by renewable means by 2010.

Four wind farms currently operate in Yorkshire, including one at Chelker Reservoir, near Skipton, and one is under construction at Knabs Ridge, near Harrogate.

The Yorkshire Futures report says 26 would be needed over the next three years, with a total of 218 turbines.

In a policy document submitted to the government in 2005, the regional assembly said Yorkshire would provide 708 megawatts of electricity from renewable sources by 2010, including 581 megawatts from wind power.

Yorkshire Futures says that current provision is 168.6 megawatts, 17.2 of them from wind power.

"It is clear that the region is very unlikely to meets its renewable energy target by 2010," says the report.

The report estimates that almost 13 square kilometres of North Yorkshire would have to be covered in wind turbines if the targets are to be met, but concedes that this is highly unlikely to happen.

It acknowledges that all such applications meet strong public opposition and that wind power is a "very minor element" in North Yorkshire. National parks, of which the county has two, are among the most difficult areas to get approval for turbines.

Eight wind power schemes in the region have planning permission, including one near Middlesbrough and one at Lissett airfield, south of Bridlington. Twelve more in South and West Yorkshire and Humberside still require permission.