Our solar victory - and why we're back in court

Oliver Hayes

13 January 2012

My Mum always says I don't know trouble when I see it. And sure enough, for the third time in a month I find myself explaining a court appearance.

Luckily (at least as far as Mrs Hayes is concerned), it's been the Government in the dock for the past few weeks, not me.

They were back there on Friday (13th) - as were our crack legal team and campaigners.

Here's why:

In December the High Court ruled the Government's mishandling of solar subsidies illegal following Friends of the Earth's successful challenge.

In an ideal world, that's where the story would end.

But if you know anything about legal challenges, you'll know that things are never that simple.

So sure enough, we went back to court on Friday to see if the Government could overturn the High Court's decision.

After a gruelling day our lawyers and campaigners emerged with news that the Judges will give judgement as soon as they can - but that it might take more than a week to decide.

So where does that leave the state of solar in the UK?

The Government's actions have put solar companies in no-man's land.

With solar cash-back rates totally unclear, installers can't tell their customers what they'll get paid for generating clean energy.

Instead of waiting for the outcome of this costly appeal, David Cameron and his Government can act now to sort this mess out. They should immediately:

Make provisions in parliament for a new rate of subsidy - which they could do on Monday
Top up the money available for solar using taxes generated by solar jobs
Plan a new system for steadily reducing solar support as the technology gets cheaper

We hope in the end the appeal judges will agree with the High Court.

Either way, you'll hear about it on our website and twitter as soon as we do, so keep your eyes peeled.

Subscribe to this blog by email using Google's subscription service.