The U.K. Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) has filed paperwork with the national Court of Appeal to fight a recent High Court decision that deemed planned cuts to feed-in tariffs (FITs) illegal.
The DECC said it is seeking ‘clarity for consumers and industry on the way forward.’
‘The High Court's decision was based on the view that the proposed approach to implementing new tariffs for solar PV is inconsistent with the FIT scheme's statutory purpose of encouraging small-scale low-carbon electricity generation. We disagree with this,’ the DECC noted in a statement.
‘Without an urgent reduction in the current tariffs, which give a very generous return, the budget for the scheme would be severely depleted, and there would be very little available for future solar PV generators or for other technologies,’ the statement continues.
The DECC recently argued that the ‘returns available to new generators are higher than envisaged,’ which will create an unsustainable incentive program and adversely affect the solar market in the U.K.