LISBON, March 23: Portugal will invest 8.1 billion euros ($10.8 billion) until 2012 to develop renewable energy projects that will create around 10,000 jobs, a senior government official said.

The investment in wind power infrastructure alone will be of 1.7 billion euros, Antonio Castro Guerra told reporters on the sidelines of the opening of a biomass plant near the central town of Castelo Branco.

The plant can produce 80 giga watts per hour or enough energy for 70,000 people.

In January Prime Minister Jose Socrates said Portugal would strive to have renewable energy account for 45 per cent of its electricity output by 2010, up from 36pc in 2005, the last year for which figures are available.

If the target is met the country will lead alternative energy use in the 27-nation European Union, alongside Austria and Sweden. —AFP