Government Loses Battle to Cut Solar Power Subsidies
Posted on: January 27th, 2012 by Samantha Donovan
According to recent reports, the UK government has recently lost its appeal against a court’s ruling that its cuts to solar power subsidies were illegal. Due to this failed appeal, thousands of homes and businesses all across the UK will now be able to claim higher payments. This is something that the government was trying to avoid.
Insider reports show that three court of appeal judges all agreed to reject the appeal from Energy Secretary Chris Huhne. The Energy Secretary did not try to hide his motives for getting this court ruling removed. He said that they wanted to maximize the number of installations that are possible within the available budget. They did not want to use all the available money to pay a higher tariff to the people who have already installed solar panels.
Caroline Lucas, who is a green party MP, said that having lost twice in the courts, the whole thing has been “roundly humiliated over the shambolic handling of solar policy.” Caroline went on to say, it just absolutely beggars belief that Mr. Huhne is planning to appeal to the supreme court.
Of course, some people are happy with the court’s ruling. Daniel Green, who is a member of HomeSun (which just so happens to be one of the companies that took the government to court), said almost everyone knows that the government has seen and appreciates the potential and importance of the solar industry. Surely, it has to be time for Mr. Huhne to stop taking the side of the Big Six energy companies and take notice that solar energy is part of the future.
As most people more than likely remember, the government had announced cuts to the solar feed-in-tariff back in October. Ministers had said that the cost of solar panels had dropped, and unless the subsidy was also cut, funding for a range of low-carbon technologies would be rapidly exhausted. Despite this, in December, the high court ruled that the government’s handling of these cuts was “legally flawed.” This eventually turned into Mr. Huhne appealing against this ruling.
It is no secret that the development of renewable energy is a very key player in the government’s plan to meet their legally binding cuts to carbon emissions. As of right now, wind power receives a lot more support in the UK than other forms of energy, like solar power.
