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FiT appeal unwelcome, says Envirolink

Nick Storer, ceo for business support organisation Envirolink, has hit out at the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) over its plan to go to the Supreme Court following its recent legal defeat over the proposed timing of the reduction in the Feed-in Tariff (FiT). Speaking as a delegate at the Green Power Forum held at Salford University in January, Storer said that the solar PV industry would remain in a state of flux for as long as the prospect remained of an eventual government victory in the case.
“We are now in a very strange situation which is causing an enormous amount of uncertainty in the industry and I’ve had a lot of phone calls from people asking ‘what’s going on?’,” said Storer.
“If DECC do get leave to appeal in the Supreme Court, it could be in six months time which is not good. If they win, anyone who has taken the gamble of installing now will lose out. What we’ve got is a six month period of uncertainty.”
He added: “People felt that the principle of proving that the government broke the law (by reducing FiT before the end of the official consultation period) was important but, what would have been better was to give them a wrap on the knuckles but then leave the 21p rate. I think it will be the uncertainty which is really damaging and the government should be held to account for that.
“It’s doing no-one any good at the moment and we will have to see if DECC appeal. We are also getting closer to the 2015/16 period when the coal-fired power stations will be switched off and we will face power cuts and all they are doing is spreading uncertainty.”

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