ALTENER – NEW CALL FOR PROPOSALS

ALTENER has now officially become part of the Energy Framework Programme, an important measure to rationalise the range of energy programmes managed by the EC's Directorate-General XVII: ALTENER (renewable energy), SAVE (energy efficiency), CARNOT (cleaner coal technology), SURE (nuclear safety), ETAP (shared study and analysis) and SYNERGY (international co-operation).  The Energy Framework Programme should ensure greater co-ordination between these initiatives.

Following the 1998 ALTENER Call for Proposals, there was agreement to support over 200 projects. This year's Call was announced on 3 July; the budget is likely to be about 11 million euros. While all areas of the programme appear to be open for proposals, in practice there is very little need for further studies or dissemination activities at the moment - only exceptional proposals in these fields will be supported. Some UK proposals were unsuccessful in the 1998 Call and lead proposers may wish to consider submitting an improved proposal. This is difficult, however, without information about the evaluation. The Commission has volunteered to provide this information if requested.

More details are available from the following:

• ALTENER: Mike Brook, DTI, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET, Tel: 020 7215 2183, Fax: 020 7215 2674, E-mail: mike.brook@hend.dti.gov.uk
   
• Energy Framework Programme: Lorraine Dawson, DTI, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET, Tel: 020 7215 4412, Fax: 020 7215 4416, E-mail: loraine.dawson@eirv.dti.gov.uk
   
• European Commission: Mr Harbison, European Commission, Directorate-General for Energy - DG XVII, Unit C-2 (Office A-1/24), 226-236 Avenue de Tervuren, B-1150 Brussels, Tel: 00 322 295 63 19, Fax: 00 322 296 62 83, E-mail: altener@bxl.dg17.cec.be
   
• EC ALTENER Web site: europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg17/altener.htm
   
• DTI ALTENER Web site: www.dti.gov.uk/altener