Breaking: High Court Judge rules solar consultation "legally flawed"
Court rules in favour of solar firms, throwing government feed-in tariff plans into chaos
21 Dec 2011
The High Court has today upheld a legal challenge from Friends of the Earth and two solar firms against the government's controversial decision to slash feed-in tariff incentives for solar installations, throwing the proposed changes to the subsidy scheme into chaos.
The Judge said the consultation 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.
Mr Justice Mitting said ministers were "proposing to make an unlawful decision" and as a result the court would be "amenable to a judicial review".
The ruling paves the way for a judicial review that could force the government to relaunch the consultation, significantly delaying when the proposed incentives to cuts will come into effect.
Lawyers for solar firm Homesun have requested that the government's proposal to cut incentives for all installations completed after December 12 now be quashed.
However, lawyers for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have immediately moved to apply for permission to appeal the judge's ruling.
The decision will be hailed as a major victory by the solar industry, after firms warned that the scale and pace of the proposed cuts would have a crippling effect on the sector resulting in thousands of job losses.
However, DECC has consistently warned that delaying the proposed cuts to incentives could result in the feed-in tariff scheme exceeding its spending cap - a scenario that some solar industry insiders fear will result in deeper cuts to incentives in the future.
Contact Amgen today to take advantage of possible delays in the FIT being reduced as a result of this outcome. Suppliers have already slashed prices in anticipation of the reduced tariff resulting in reduced system prices for a limited time. Contact Amgen renewables now to make sure you don't miss out. Tel: 01269 846939