Appeal has been taken to High Court

Lawyers have questioned whether a petition to the High Court to overturn the government’s decision to slash the levels of subsidy for large solar energy projects will be successful.

Last Wednesday seven companies and three individuals demanded a judicial review of the government’s decision to carry out an emergency review of the subsidies, which cut the feed-in tariff subsidy for solar arrays above 50kW - about the size of two tennis courts.

Ron Plascow, a construction partner at law firm Mills & Reeve, said he was “not persuaded” that the government had acted outside its powers in cutting the subsidies.
“I’m certainly not aware of the secretary of state promising that they would never alter [the feed-in tariff],” he said.

Another sustainability lawyer, who did not want to be named, said that he thought that “ultimately the government will triumph” and that the petition was lodged partly to raise the profile of the issue.

The petition was submitted by Alectron Investments, Element Power, Juwi Renewable Energies, Lark Energy, Low Carbon Solar UK, mO3 Power, Donald Anderson, Guy Anderson, Kate Kenyon and The Green Company (Europe).

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