DECC will be delaying the next round of cuts

Greg Barker Climate Change Minister

Having done the rounds of meeting installers and ghostly quiet (no phones ringing) regional distributors business units we promoted a mail out to get installers to write to MP’s.

Well done to all the groups who lobby to save Solar PV as we welcomed Secretary of State Ed Davey’s confirmation today that DECC will be delaying the next round of cuts to the Feed-in Tariff for solar PV.

At long last it would seem the industry got the ear of our Energy Minister Gregory Barkey MP, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change said that this decision was the result of “listening carefully to industry”.

I also wonder if this was part of the chit chat at 10 Downing Street this week when a review that was not a review was held on Green Deal.

Sales have been reported by some to have seen a landslide during in April and May.

As we have a delay in FiT cuts it gives the Solar PV industry the opportunity to reignite the solar market with the simple from the Solar Trade Association “PV pays!”

The Solar Trade Association say:

Solar does not only protect homeowners from rising energy bills – it actually delivers a great return on investment too. Householders can currently enjoy returns of up to 10%, tax-free, index-linked, for 25 years. Solar is also very long lasting, and its lack of moving parts make it exceptionally reliable. The cost of solar power has been coming down faster than any other energy generation technology, so even though the tariffs have been reduced, returns are still as good as when the scheme started.

 

Bill Ascroft, Founder and CEO of Solar Utillity said:

“The fact is that not installing Solar PV would be an almost criminal waste of a great  opportunity. Putting your roof to work is a powerful way of giving households and businesses a huge extra income as well as control over their energy bills.

 

“Already we’re seeing how solar makes a natural partner for more intermittent forms of renewable generation, like wind. That’s going to become more and more important in years to come, and it’s time to invest today for the energy market of tomorrow.”

 

Dr Doug Parr, Policy Director at Greenpeace UK, said:

 

“Solar power remains a truly renewable source of power that we need in tackling UK gas dependency and climate change. Many householders will still have the opportunity to contribute to moving the UK to a sustainable low carbon world.”

 

Paul Barwell, Chief Executive of the STA, said:

 

“There are two great reasons for homeowners to invest in PV today: The costs of solar power have fallen through the floor and our energy bills are going through the roof.

 

“It is very encouraging for the future that Government is listening to industry concerns, but we need certainty as soon as possible on the details of when and what the next tariff adjustments will be.”

http://www.solar-trade.org.uk/news.cfm?id=112

Figures for total capacity over the past four weeks show just 17 megawatts (MW) of solar was installed compared to a four-weekly average of 71 MW over the past year – a 75 per cent fall in business

I believe a delay to the cuts was inevitable as the legal deadline passed by for FiT cuts expired on Monday for implementability on 1 July expired .

This freeze should stay in place until Christmas or even early next year, don’t cut the amount but shorten the time.

Today we saw a Tweet from Greg Barker ” Now final prepping for DECC Oral Questions at 10.30am in House of Commons. Lots on #FITs & #GreenDeal.”

 

DECC is yet to publish an official announcement on the cuts.

PV Pays and now we have time to sell this to property owners

What we should expect Feed in Tariff 2012 for Solar PV

The table of proposed tariffs is below.

Band (kW)	Current generation tariff (p/kWh	Proposed generation tariff (p/kWh)
≤4kW (new build)	37.8	21.0
≤4kW (retrofit)	43.3	21.0
>4-10kW	37.8	16.8
>10-50kW	32.9	15.2
>50-100kW	19	12.9
>100-150kW	19	12.9
>150-250kW	15	12.9
>250kW-5MW	8.5	8.5*
stand alone	8.5	8.5*

* Note that these are the current tariffs which we are not proposing changing and which, like all other current tariffs, will be adjusted in line with the Retail Price Index from 1 April 2012.

Possible 2012 FiT

Under the proposals, the new tariffs would apply to all new solar PV installations with an eligibility date on or after 12 December 2011. Such installations would receive the current tariff before moving to the lower tariffs on 1 April 2012. Consumers who already receive a FIT will see their existing payments unchanged, and those with an eligibility date on or before 11 December 2011 will receive the current rate.

Spirit Solar boss Erica Robb today challenged Prime Minister David Cameron over his handling of the recent Feed-in Tariff cuts.

Greenest Government Ever? Or Tory Green wash!

REW_215-240-_Premium_Plusv2

As a previous Tory supporter I write in surprise about the way DECC has causes irrepairable damage to the whole renewable energy/energy efficiency market.

Having spent a couple of day as a marketeer with my company Netbods.net for REW of Dortmund on the phone as my first post Christmas activity I can report a general unease from Solar PV installers as it is expectedly much quieter post 12th December and without a clear route from DECC confidence has evapoated and all the sectors who were pinning their hopes on Green Deal to boost their finances are now scared to invest any time, effort or cash at this time.

Quiet frankly a few including myself are spending with hope that Green Deal will be our saviour. For those more risk averse – who can blame them?

Our previous Labour bunch also did costly U-turns and then made some pretty wild promises before handing over to this coalition government who continue to scrap policies at the drop of a hat and without any conscience to the mess they cause business and hardship to thousands of families connected to this sector .

Full marks to

This content is straight from Spirit Solar:

At a meeting of local business owners, Miss Robb today accused the Prime Minister of causing job losses in the solar energy industry with the cuts forcing her to make 30 redundancies the week before Christmas.

She branded the decision to give the industry just six weeks notice of the tariff reductions as “disgraceful”.

Yesterday the Government appealed a High Court ruling which saw cuts from 43.3p per kWh to 21p per kWh deemed “illegal”.

Confronting the Prime Minister, Miss Robb said: “Before Christmas we employed 80 people. We made 30 people redundant in the week before Christmas.

Spirit Solar installers’ just weeks before FiT cuts led to 30 redundancies

“This was following weeks of chaos caused by the short-notice cut done by your government to the feed-in tariffs.

“The High Court has ruled that the way you did that was unlawful and (the chairman of the Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee) Tim Yeo has said it has undermined confidence, which you yourself have said is fundamental.

“Yet yesterday you lodged an appeal against the High Court decision twenty-five thousand people’s jobs rely on. How can you justify the appeal?”

David Cameron, who claims to support the industry, responded: “I know this has been extremely difficult. As a constituency MP, many businesses in my constituency have been affected in exactly the same way that you have.

“I’m afraid the government and the taxpayer and the bill-payer faced a really big problem which was that there was a feed-in tariff system set up under the last government that had very generous payments for people fitting solar panels to their roofs. I think that was a very good idea.

“The prices fell quite radically, in terms of the cost of solar panels, and so suddenly what was a reasonable tariff and a reasonable return for householders was looking like something that was much too generous – a 10% rate of return – and that was going to use up all the money that was set aside for years of this feed-in tariff.”

Following the meeting, Miss Robb was asked whether she thought the Government knew anything about running a company.

She responded: “A container [of solar panels] takes 12 weeks to arrive; planning permission takes 12 weeks. David Cameron has PR experience, not industry experience. He has not run an order book that runs out 12 weeks or more.”

05/01/2012

I agree politicians; of all 3 major political parties, need to wake up as they are totally out of touch with the electorate and Cameron cannot keep blaming everything on the previous Labour party whilst DECC ministers are effectively trying to kill off one of the very few market sectors that was booming in our failing economy.
If we do go back into recession this year the blame lies with Cameron, Barker and the rest of their coalition flunkies.

The way to escape from recession is SELL, SELL, SELL and the best way to sure the climate crisis is SELL, SELL, SELL and this also creates jobs. Please might we ask for a reasonable long lasting Green Deal campaign and then let the sales staff get some orders in the bag.

SOURCE:

http://www.spiritsolar.co.uk/challenge.php

http://rew-solar.co.uk/

http://netbods.co.uk/

Netbods.net are leaders in marketing Green Energy

Legal challenge being brought by solar companies and environmental campaigners: Has Department of Energy and Climate Change Acted Illegally?

Royal Courts of Justice Cause List

COURT 2

Before MR JUSTICE MITTING
Tuesday 20 December, 2011
At half past 10

FOR HEARING
CO/11055/2011 The Queen on the application of Homesun Holdings Limited   v Secretary Of State For Energy And Climate Change
CO/10734/2011 The Queen on the application of Solar Century Holdings Ltd   v Secretary Of State For Energy And Climate Change
CO/11091/2011 The Queen on the application of Friends Of The Earth Limited   v Secretary Of State For Climate Change And Energy

CHRIS HUHNE, SECRETARY OF STATE

In a first step on the expensive ladder of High Court legal action I would say to all those involved please consider the action very carefully as it could ruin your business and allow your competition to run circles around you.

Whilst the companies HomeSun & Solar Century place a substantial amount of working capital into the hands of the legal sparrows we must ask has DECC actually done anything illegal and would all the money involved be better spent on marketing for new business.

Environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth and two solar companies, Solarcentury and HomeSun, will today seek a ruling on the government’s plans to change the qualifying criteria for investments within certain tax-efficient vehicles, including VCTs, to exclude companies in receipt of these feed-in tariffs.

As we saw plans announced earlier this month, Finance Bill 2012 now state that any activity comprising receipt of feed-in tariffs or similar subsidies would not generally be a qualifying activity for tax-efficient investment vehicles such as VCTs, enterprise investment schemes and real estate investment trusts.

A judge has ordered an urgent hearing of a High Court challenge over the plans, with a judicial review to be heard today and tomorrow  (20/21 December 2011).

Should the claim be found successful, the review could overturn a cut that has been in force since 12 December.

Although I’m of the opinion this cut was handled appallingly it was always clear that the first tariff would be high to attract early adopters who would spread the word like a giant word of mouth scheme and then the tariff would fall. It should however have fallen more gently.

The government’s stance is not unreasonable on the grounds of  Solar PV levels of Feed in Tariff were set up when the costs of Solar PV modules were much higher and they have now plummeted. With wholesale costs now falling below £1 per watt the return on investment is the same as the date at which the  FiT was launched.

Without doubt it is devastating the way the cut was enforced and we will see the impact on a thriving industry.

The fallout from the pressure Solar PV installers faced with a huge rush is yet to be discovered as the industry was slowly growing from 3,000 to 5,000 weekly installations until the boom & bust speech given by Greg Barker MP 27th October at Birmingham ICC Solar PV UK conference.

The initial installation numbers grew over 6 weeks so the total for the week ending 11th December  2011 show 29,842 installations in that week compared to 25,562 for the week ending 4th December 2011

The total of installations gaining subsidy via registration with MCS is now 228,632 up from 198,790 (week ending 11th December 2011). The total capacity installed is now 756.6MW up from 630.7MW

Amazing growth when we consider the industry only installed 270 Solar PV installation for the whole year in 2007.

What Mr Justice Mitting  will say is worth a bet with William Hill as he has made some decisions that others might find rather unusual

Two dangerous Libyan terror suspects were freed next after  Mr Justice Mitting dealt a new blow to the government’s anti-terror strategy by ruling they could not be sent back to Colonel Gadafy’s regime because of the risk they would face torture and a show trial.

Also 11,000 failed asylum seekers could qualify for free NHS treatment after a High Court judge declared that current regulations were “unlawful”.

The ruling by Mr Justice Mitting applies to asylum seekers who have had their claims turned down but who have become “ordinarily resident” in Britain because it would be unsafe for them to return to their native country.

For a balanced point of view do not just think this is a Tory challenge  as the UK’s first ever Energy and Climate Change Minister Ed Miliband was spouting pious promises on greenhouse gas emissions reductions in Parliament while allowing the UK’s only wind turbine factories to be scrapped on a what some say was a bosses’ bean-counting whim.

Personally I think they have been watching too much Harry Hill, FIGHT is not the answer as climate change is the job of the salesman, not the scientist, not the High Court and not the Government. To date the biggest savings of C02 comes from the double glazing salesman and we all scoffed at the claims they used to make.

SOURCE: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hTteuezdSP7GOTU5yzVqSn5LKASA?docId=N0548991324349367090A

http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/courts-and-tribunals/courts/hearing-lists/list-cause-rcj.htm

http://www.decc.gov.uk/publications/basket.aspx?filetype=4&filepath=11%2fstats%2fenergy%2fenergy-source%2f3803-weekly-solar-pv-installation-and-capacity-.xls&minwidth=true#basket

http://www.exfl.com/islamic-london/justice-john-mitting-3.htm

http://london.indymedia.org/articles/1796

A judge has granted a High court hearing over the FiT fiasco

Judicial review of solar subsidy cuts to go ahead after High Court U-turn

Two solar companies are celebrating after a High Court Judge granted them permission to challenge the government over its proposals to cut subsidies for solar energy.

The change in the scheme meant that the amount paid for solar panel generated electricity was reduced from 43.3p per kWh to 21p – slashing the revenue that can be earned on average by households from £1,100 to £500.

FoE argued the December deadline was ‘premature and unlawful’ as the Government is currently running a consultation into feed-in tariffs that does not end until two weeks after the 12 December cut-off date.

Mr Justice Mitting, sitting in London, said today the proposals had given rise to ‘economic risk’ for those engaged in the solar industry.

He added that the said the application for judicial review against Energy Secretary Chris Huhne should be heard next Tuesday and Wednesday as it seemed to him an immediate risk had been created ‘for those who are installing solar panels after December 12’.

three organisations claim this is unlawful and has led to scores of projects being abandoned, not least because companies will not know if the new tariff rates are to be applied from next April until the results of the consultation are confirmed next month.

Although this argument was rejected by the High Court last month, Mr Justice Mitting today agreed that the proposals had given rise to “economic risk” for the solar industry and said the challenge should be heard as a matter of urgency.

John Faulks, SolarCentury’s company secretary, said the case was still at an early stage and next week the companies would be looking to prove that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) had acted illegally.

“A cut of over 50 per cent that occurred in just six weeks and before the end of a consultation period is cynical and irrational,” he said. “Win or lose on Tuesday next week, the industry still has to sort out the chaos DECC has already caused.”

A DECC spokeswoman said the department would be defending the review.

Anger at the speed of the cuts has been widespread across the industry, which has warned up to 20,000 jobs could be lost as a result. A petition was delivered to Downing Street on Tuesday, while a march on Parliament was organised last month. Chris Huhne even had to defend the proposals in front of a hostile audience on the BBC’s Question Timeprogramme.

http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2130133/court-rejects-legal-action-solar-incentive-cuts

SOURCE:

http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2130133/court-rejects-legal-action-solar-incentive-cutsRead more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2074642/Solar-feed-tariff-cut-challenge-given-ahead-judge.html#ixzz1gmjyg8w7

Solar PV 2012: European Commission is threatening to take the Government to court over its controversial decision to cut solar-power subsidies by half.

The European Commission is threatening to take the Government to court over its controversial decision to cut solar-power subsidies by half.

Solar UK ICC: Greg Barker MP announces death of solar in UK

The commission became the latest party to question the move publicly yesterday, revealing that it had contacted the Government as it investigates the impact of the cut.

Günther Oettinger, the EU Energy Commissioner, said: “Whenever member states revise their support for support schemes for renewable energy, they need to do so in a manner which does not destabilise the renewable-energy industry or risk undermining their plans to achieve their 2020 targets.”

The Government is legally obliged to generate 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

“Should the UK weaken policies in such a way that it would threaten progress towards their targets, the commission would take action, launching legal proceedings if necessary,” Mr Oettinger added. He was responding to a “priority question” about the solar subsidy from Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London.

Ms Lambert said: “Under the commission’s ruling, the UK is prevented from making amendments to support schemes which could jeopardise the renewables industry, yet sudden, drastic cuts to the tariff will strip away investor confidence, reduce the market for solar companies across the country and threaten jobs.”

Ms Lambert will today extend her campaign against the subsidy cut from Europe to the UK, in a meeting with Caroline Lucas, MP in the Brighton Pavilion and head of the Green Party. They will draw up a plan to pressure the Government into a full impact study into the tariff cuts that would examine their effect on Britain’s renewable-energy target and the economy.

Critics say Britain’s fledgling solar industry will be decimated by the Government’s decision in October to reduce the so-called feed-in tariff (FIT) subsidy it offers to households and small businesses for generating solar power from 43p per kWh to just 21p.

Donna Hume, the energy campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: “Plans to slash payments for solar electricity will undermine confidence in the Government’s commitment to clean energy and make it much harder to meet UK renewable-energy targets.”

Howard Johns, the head of the Solar Trade Association, added that the proposed subsidy cut “had definitely destabilised the industry”. The cuts threaten about 10,000 jobs in the UK solar-power industry, or around 40 per cent of the total, he said. Last week, Carillion, the construction giant, warned that the FIT changes threatened about 1,500 jobs at the company.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “We are committed to meeting the 15 per cent 2020 renewables target. Our Renewables Roadmap sets out that solar would have a relatively limited role in cost-effective delivery of the overall target.”

 

 

 

SOURCE: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-faces-threat-of-legal-action-over-solar-subsidy-6274505.html