4 January 2012 Guardian

Proposed cuts to the solar feed-in tariffs were essential to making scheme successful, government tells high court.

The government lodged an appeal on Wednesday against a judge's ruling that its cuts to solar power subsidies were illegal, arguing that the cuts were essential to encourage as many homeowners as possible to install renewable energy. The government will also argue that the judge's ruling was premature, as the final decision to slash the solar subsidies had not been taken at the time.

The proposal in October by the department of energy and climate change (DECC) to cut the support for solar panels by 50% caused uproar in the industry, who claimed thousands of jobs would be lost, and that it deeply undermined the government's claim to be the "greenest ever". Ministers said the cost of the panels had dropped and unless the subsidy was also cut, the available funding would be rapidly exhausted.

A DECC spokesman said: "We have lodged grounds of appeal with the court. We hope that permission will be granted for an appeal and that we can secure a hearing as soon as possible, so that we can provide clarity for consumers and industry on the way forward." A decision on whether the appeal can go ahead could come as early as Thursday. Climate minister Greg Bark tweeted that "Timing up to Courts but hope to resolve well before the end of the month." 

View the full article on the Guardian's website.