UK court agrees: Officials can't change solar rules early

Clean energy advocates in Britain hope to get on with their goal of getting more residents to install solar panels now that the Supreme Court has dealt a final blow to the government’s attempt to cut solar subsidies ahead of schedule.

Late last year, UK officials announced plans to halve solar feed-in tariffs (FITs) — incentives to homeowners who install solar panels — earlier than scheduled. They argued the program, launched in 2010, had proven so successful that it would rapidly run out of money unless FIT rates were cut.

Friends of the Earth and solar-energy companies Solarcentury and HomeSun challenged that plan in court, saying the government was not only acting illegally but was creating damaging uncertainty for the nation’s just-developing solar industry. The High Court in December agreed with solar advocates, and its ruling was upheld a month later by an appeals panel. That’s when the government took its case to the Supreme Court.

Late last week, the Supreme Court too took the side of the solar-energy companies by declining to hear the government’s case.

“This final step in the legal process has wasted much needed time and money and now we, the renewables industry, simply want to get on with creating our clean energy future,” said Jeremy Leggett, chairman of Solarcentury, after the latest court decision. “Renewables can only play the pivotal role necessary to deliver a new green economy if we have a stable market and investor confidence backed by lawful, predictable and carefully considered policy.”

“The coalition (government) must now get on with the urgent task of restoring confidence in UK solar power,” added Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth. “The government recently pledged a huge increase in solar by the end of the decade; it must now spell out how it is going to achieve this.”

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey said officials were “disappointed” the Supreme Court wouldn’t consider the government’s arguments.

“But the Court’s decision draws a line under the case,” he added. “We will now focus all our efforts on ensuring the future stability and cost effectiveness of solar and other microgeneration technologies for the many, not the few.”