U.K. Solar Industry Defies Government Cutbacks

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- The U.K. government has lost its battle to cut solar subsidies by up to 70% after a High Court ruling that said its plans were 'illegal.'

The decision against the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) upheld an original Judicial Review decision in December and has provided the struggling renewable energy sector with some respite from cuts they claim would kill off the industry before it really has a chance to grow.

Last March, the government was accused of 'strangling the solar industry at birth' by industry groups, when it slashed the feed-in-tariff (FiT) for large-scale solar projects by 70%. For additional information, see March 25, 2011, article - U.K. Solar Industry 'Strangled At Birth'.

In October it stood by its decision when it reworked its financial support framework for renewable energy projects, the Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) scheme, reducing its financial support for solar, hydropower and onshore wind projects. For additional information, see October 25, 2011, article -- U.K. Changes Support for Renewable Energy.

The High Court decision means that the government cannot cut the solar FiT from 43.3p to 21p until March 3, at the earliest.

"The Government's action and the subsequent court case had together thrown the solar industry into a state of extreme uncertainty, which was most regrettable," said Chief Executive of the Renewable Energy Association (REA), Gaynor Hartnell. "We now want to put this behind us as swiftly as possible, and work with Government and supporters to secure a larger budget for small scale renewable energy generation."

However, the government has vowed to press ahead and take the case to the Supreme Court.

Speaking after the High Court judgement, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said: "Yesterday, the Court of Appeal handed down a negative judgment on the Government's appeal against an earlier decision by the High Court. We respectfully disagree with the judgment and are seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. The reason for appealing is that we want to maximise the number of installations that are possible within the available budget for FiTs, rather than use available money to pay a higher tariff to half the number of installations. Solar PV can have strong and vibrant future in U.K. and we want a lasting FITs scheme to support that future and jobs in the industry."

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