Comments on: UK Court Rules Cuts to Solar Subsidies “Legally Flawed”

By: What’s the Feed-in Tariff, Kenneth? Confusion Reigns in UK as Government Appeals Ruling on Solar Subsidy Cut

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:29:14 +0000

[…] surprisingly, the judge, Justice Mitting of the high court, ruled this out of line and ordered a full judicial enquiry. Now it’s emerged that the UK Government plans to appeal the ruling. Climate Minister Greg […]

By: Switching to Renewables No More Expensive than Upgrading Fossil Power, Says UK Government’s Climate Change Scientific Adviser

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:15:18 +0000

[…] That’s at least part of the reason we’ve seen subsidies for renewable energy cut in Britain, the Netherlands, and elsewhere.But according to a new study by the UK government’s chief […]

By: David

David — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 06:00:00 +0000

I agree. The problem really is that the investors who have build up companies which supply RE installations don’t really have an incentive to be in the business.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:07:00 +0000

No. Once you qualify for the FiT or PTC you continue to get your subsidy. The support is not yanked out from underneath you causing your project to go bankrupt.

The issue is stopping/changing the financial support for projects not yet built/qualified.

Notice the part about “it’s likely to lead to a last-minute rush in solar installations” – that’s what happens when a program is being terminated/changed and people want to get qualified under the existing program.

By: Triaxiom

Triaxiom — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:33:00 +0000

Solar is slow to take hold in the UK (sun, what sun?), but I am beginning to see more installations. Be awful to snatch away the incentives.

By: David

David — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:26:00 +0000

I think I’ve found the reason that governments enact and then remove Feed In Tariffs for smaller producers, but leave them in place for the government run utilities. If small and medium sized people invest in huge farms and even small home systems and can’t afford to maintain them, then the government and/or bank automatically owns them. Whereas governments will sign orders (power purchase agreements) with their own utilities for 30 years!! An uneven playing field if ever there was one.