High Court gives solar FiT legal action the go-ahead
December 16, 2011 at 18:56 Leave a comment
by GreenWise staff
16th December 2011
Friends of the Earth, Solarcentury and Homesun have won their High Court appeal to challenge the Government over its plans to cut the solar FiT
Friends of the Earth and two solar firms have been given the go-ahead to challenge the Government in the courts over its plans to slash the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) for small-scale solar photovoltaic installations.
The High Court gave permission to Friends of the Earth, Solarcentury and Homesunto take the Government to court over the cuts to solar FiT subsidies at a hearing yesterday. The decision follows an appeal by the three organisations after the High Court first rejected their case on the grounds it was not strong enough. The Judicial review has been set for next week (December 20 and 21). It is the latest twist in a bitter row between the Government and many in the solar sector and their supporters, which claim the speed and scale of the cuts will have a devastating impact on the solar industry.
“We’re delighted the High Court has given the go-ahead to our legal challenge – we believe Government plans to abruptly slash solar subsidies are not only unfair, but illegal,” Friends of the Earth’s executive director Andy Atkins said. “These proposals have already had a disastrous impact on the solar industry – fledgling clean businesses have had the rug pulled from under their feet and a shadow hangs over thousands of jobs.”
Legal case
The legal action focuses on Government plans announced on October 31 to cut FiTs by more than 50 per cent on solar installations completed on or after December 12 this year.
In their case, Friends of the Earth, Solarcentury and HomeSun argue the Government’s FiT plans are unlawful because the December 12 cut-off point is two weeks before the consultation on the fast track FiT review ends on December 23. Friends of the Earth adds this is “unfairly” causing numerous planned solar schemes to be abandoned and could cost up to 29,000 jobs.
But the Department of Energy and Climate Change maintains that the scale and speed of the cuts are justified because delaying them would put at risk the entire FiT scheme.
Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to maintain existing tariff payments to all qualifying solar schemes completed by April 1 2012 and to extend the consultation period to Friday February 17 2012, at the earliest.
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