Latest Solar Energy News from Aqua Solar Energy.

  • 21st Dec

    High Court Judge rules Feed in Tariff cuts ‘legally flawed’.

    The High Court has today upheld a legal challenge from Friends of the Earth and two solar companies against the Government’s controversial decision to slash Feed in Tariff incentives for Solar PV installations from 12th December 2011, throwing the proposed changes to the subsidy scheme into utter chaos.

    The High Court Judge Mr Justice Mitting said the Feed in Tariff consultation (A Government Review of the Feed in Tariff scheme started on 30th October 2011 and due for completion on 23rd December 2011) was legally flawed and can be subjected to a judicial review.

    The Court ruled the Government had breached rules governing consultation exercises, when it announced that proposed cuts to Feed in Tariff incentives would impact installations completed before the end of the consultation period. (The reduced Feed in Tariffs came into effect on the 12th December.)

    Mr Justice Mitting said Government ministers were “proposing to make an unlawful decision”‘ and as a result the court would be “amenable to a judicial review”.

    He also noted that the consultation has already had a “significant impact” on the industry in the form of scrapped projects and job losses.

    The ruling paves the way for a judicial review that could force the government to re-launch the consultation, significantly delaying when the proposed cuts to Feed in Tariffs will come into effect.

    The Judge rejected an immediate request for an appeal from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on the grounds it would create further uncertainty.  However, DECC lawyers said they could make another application to appeal by the 4th of January next year.