The Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (Taqa) is planning to buy a number of renewable energy firms in a bid to make 50 per cent of its operations 'eco-friendly' by 2023, a report said.

'We are currently looking at two (renewable energy) firms, one European and one North American,' Taqa's CEO Peter Barker-Homek was quoted as saying in the  Emirates Business report.

The two firms are finding it difficult to get financing due to current financial crisis.

The company had earlier tied up with France's Theolia to work on renewable energy projects in Morocco.

Taqa aims to make about seven per cent of its operations `renewable' by mid-2010, and further increase it to 50 per cent between 2018 and 2023, through global acquisitions.

'Renewable' energy includes power from solar, wind, tidal and geothermal sources, he explained.