A U.K. judge has ordered an urgent hearing of a high-court challenge over the government's plans to dramatically cut feed-in tariffs for solar electricity. Environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth and two solar companies, Solarcentury and HomeSun, have won the go-ahead to seek a ruling that the controversial proposals are unlawful.
The judicial review will be heard next week. According to Solarcentury, the judge ruled that the proposals had given rise to ‘economic risk’ for those engaged in the solar market, and that the challenge should be heard as a matter of urgency next week.
‘We are pleased with the decision here at Solarcentury, but it is only the first step of the legal challenge,’ says John Faulks, company secretary at Solarcentury. ‘The court agrees that we have a case to argue and has given us permission to challenge [the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)]. Next, we need to persuade the court that DECC has acted illegally.’
