Friday 23 December 2011
FiT ruling could bring instability to solar
The Chief Executive of the Renewable Energy Association has warned that the impact of the recent High Court ruling regarding the Feed-in Tariff could increase instability in the industry.
The implications of the judicial review mean that the original tariff (pre December 12) cannot be changed until after the full eight-week parliamentary process, followed by a review of the responses and then a 40-day period before the legislation takes effect.
Gaynor Hartnell said: "Whilst no-one in the renewables industry was comfortable with the manner in which the latest PV tariff review was carried out, the implications of this decision could be very bad for those technologies benefitting from the feed in tariff.
"The Government will appeal, but if the tariffs do get reinstated, the rush that we'd seen before 12th December will presumably resume. The majority of our members felt that the tariffs should have come down, and we called for a 25% reduction in March this year. This may put the longer-term future of the small-scale feed in tariff in jeopardy, when what we need most is clarity stability."
If the Government wins an appeal, then nothing is likely to change.Despite not being given the chance to appeal by Mr Justice Mitting, if it wants to make a case then Government must put one forward by 4th January 2012.
Other FiT stories:
MPs report slates ‘rushed’ FiTs changes
High Court rules FiT cuts unlawful
Welsh MP roasts DECC over solar FiT
