Latest on the court challenge!!!

[powervan]

been as flat as a witches --- for 6 weeks and today, bang, off we go again.
I feel this whole thing will cost the government ££££'s, i did not think there would be a rush again, but me thinks different now, well up to march the 3rd anyway..

uve been going out with the wrong witches

 

[pwboston]

already fixing kits have gone might abandon for 6 weeks and carry on contracting

 

[DomB]

With DECC saying they're going to take this to the supreme court I can't quite understand why all the stock's going

 

[The Solar King]

SolarCentury have resigned from the BPVA.

Does anyone have any idea exactly why the BPVA supported the DECC? Have they made any statement about this?

Something to do with background of chairman I think. Here is some biog:

Reza Shaybani is a Serial entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in managing technology-focused companies in the optical disc manufacturing equipment and semiconductor industries in Europe and Middle East. For the past 5 years Reza has been involved in the solar PV industry as the Managing Director of Scheuten Solar Middle East and Solar Technology Centre in the UAE, founder of Solarjobs.com a global job board in the solar industry, Managing Director of System Photonics and Director of The Electric Roof Company in the UK.
In 2010, Reza and a group of companies with interest in the UK solar PV market (the founding members) formed the British Photovoltaic Association.

Obviously wrote this himself. Don't look at his facebook page, you will puke.

Without being racist, what does this person know about UK politics?

 

[powervan]

ITS not WORTH the STRESS 6 weeks is a good idea!

 

[SolarCity]

Does anyone know if he actually gaged the opinion of his members before he declared the BPVA to be supportive of the DECC actions?

 

[Somecamel]

Does anyone know if he actually gaged the opinion of his members before he declared the BPVA to be supportive of the DECC actions?

Obviously not

 

[solarsavings]

Something to do with background of chairman I think. Here is some biog:

Reza Shaybani is a Serial entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in managing technology-focused companies in the optical disc manufacturing equipment and semiconductor industries in Europe and Middle East. For the past 5 years Reza has been involved in the solar PV industry as the Managing Director of Scheuten Solar Middle East and Solar Technology Centre in the UAE, founder of Solarjobs.com a global job board in the solar industry, Managing Director of System Photonics and Director of The Electric Roof Company in the UK.
In 2010, Reza and a group of companies with interest in the UK solar PV market (the founding members) formed the British Photovoltaic Association.

Obviously wrote this himself. Don't look at his facebook page, you will puke.

Without being racist, what does this person know about UK politics?

Didn't we see something from this electric roof company early last wanting sub contractors to work for peanuts around St Albans.
When I saw that I thought the blokes a ***t now I know he his.

 

[mdovey]

Does anyone know if he actually gaged the opinion of his members before he declared the BPVA to be supportive of the DECC actions?

I misread that as "gagged the opinion of his members"...

 

[Gavin A]

SolarCentury have resigned from the BPVA.

Does anyone have any idea exactly why the BPVA supported the DECC? Have they made any statement about this?

I'm a member so get their emails, and attended a BPVA organised meeting with DECC and around 50 BPVA members from across the industry in November, so probably have a reasonable handle on their position.

Basically as I understand it, BPVA after consulting with members (to some extent) worked out what most on here have been saying, which is that the 21p rate is actually ok, and also that the FIT budget is already massively overspent, so the most productive long term position is to work out a compromise position with decc, to not antagonise them further with court action, and to look to the bigger long term picture.

SO, instead of ****ing about with court challenges that have merely exacerbated the problem through increased delays and uncertainties, and might result in customer who've bought at 21p anyway being further rewarded with 43.3p that they didn't need, they opted to draw a line under that side of things and look to the main danger from the consultation which is the proposed band C for EPC's.

I believe BPVA have been lobbying heavily for either no energy efficiency rating or the Green Deal version which is far less stringent, this was certainly the message that DECC would have taken from the meeting I was at where the support for this position was pretty much unanimous.

I understand they are also now in discussions with DECC about the future shape of the FIT scheme, to negotiate further cuts on a more regular time table. The last email I had on that indicated further cuts in April and July are being proposed, probably with 6 monthly cuts after that.

I'm not really sure what cuts they could actually bring in in April, probably only the original planned 8% cut that I think would still be allowed under the original FIT legislation, and I think maybe they'll leave it to give time for all the already proposed changes to take effect and focus on a cut in July instead, but this is just guesswork.

So, basically the reason BPVA took the stance they did is to try to forge a long term partnership with DECC to try to influence deccs decision making behind the scenes before they actually announce their decisions via a consultation. Personally I think they've played this far far better than STA who've gone for the full frontal attack option, and focussed on the aspect of the situation that's ok legally the most troubling, but is also ignores entirely the most troubling long terms issues for the industry (EPCs and the FIT budget itself).

I'd have liked more consultation from BPVA about their position in advance, and they're far from perfect, but I have to admit that their strategy probably has been largely correct, and STA's has been largely counterproductive in the long run.

 

[sambotc]

Give him credit though, according to facebook he chooses his friends wisely!

 

[SolarCity]

I have to strongly disagree.

The STA's response wasn't a full frontal attack - it was a defence. And it was a defence that the DECC were warned about well in advance. To point out the legal issues with the DECC changes was the only response we could have. Are you honestly suggesting that the government should be able to wreck our industry and that we should be worried about upsetting them in case they don't listen to us in the future? This shouldn't distract from the EPC and the FITs budget issue - they should run in line with it.

I am strongly of the opinion that 21p is FAR too low to keep a satisfactory growth in the PV market and I also believe that Huhne and Co. know this fully well. Barker has begun to show his cards - he is now openly criticising the FIT scheme and is actually threatening to cut the whole scheme. All this from the greenest government ever?

I don't like politicians and I never will. And I will never tolerate being lied to by multi-millionaire plastic faced elfine rats like Barker and his mates. If they came to power announcing that they would decimate the solar industry and then proceeded to act like they did then I could have little quarrel with them - instead they moan about Milliband and blame it all on him - as if a massive uptake in green energy is suddenly a bad thing.

It is not a case of messing about with court challenges - We expect our government to act in a way in which such an action isn't necessary. We certainly don't expect them to prolong the misery by lodging appeal after appeal. And we certainly want them to know that we won't lie down when they kick us just because they can't do their own jobs properly. Frankly, if it took another 18 months to get things sorted then I'd still be up for the fight.

It bothers me when people worry about 'antagonising' the DECC. They are public servants - not our masters. If they fail to act in a way in which I would expect then I will bloody well tell them so.

My support is with the STA. The thought of Reza Shaybani proudly waving his 'C' rating victory paper around like a modern day Chamberlain utterly sickens me. I hope that a few of 'his' members feel the same way and let him know.

The DECC didn't ask for my opinion nor anyone elses on this forum when they decided to wreck the FIT with just 6 weeks notice.

 

[The Solar King]

Sorry I cannot agree with this. You completely miss the point of why the court case is so important. Without certainty that there can be no retrospective action there can be no certainty over future investment in the industry. Unless it is firmly established that DECC acted unlawfully we are for ever at the mercy of arbitary decisions to the detriment of all.


If you even began to understand the work the STA have been undertaking in the background to protect and promote the industry for far longer than the BPVA have been in existence you would take a different view. Do you really want to belong to a so called organisation that is negotiating ongoing cuts rather than one working to create a long term sustainable future for the industry?

There are still major policy issues to be resolved: It is still unclear that FITs should even be considered part of Public Spending, especially in light of the European Court ruling that the German FITs are not.

We have to work with DECC but not on the basis of appeasement. Do not under-estimate who your enemies are and the influence they hold. The long term relationship you describe sounds like brown nosing and will get you nowhere. Right now I do not have the time to explain the systemic problems within DECC and their causes. Needless to say those who chose the strategy did so from years of experience and very sound advice.

Had it not been for the hard hard work and sacrifice of those in the STA and Our Solar Future, going back many months, we would all be on 9p.

 

[SolarCity]

This graph tells you all you need to know about DECC, Huhne and Barker.

The arrogance of politicians is truly staggering. Did you watch Barker being interviewed on television and blaming this fiasco on Milliband? A full 20 months after taking the coalition took power?

They are incompetent liars and I certainly won't sit back and clap along like a demented seal in the hope that they don't do anything even more stupid and implement the 'C' rating.

 

[MorganPVI]

It is shocking to think that any sensible person supports the way the DECC have handled this situtation.

BPVA and their leader seem to be cosying up to Gregory, why? They obvoiusly see a profit in it for them.