“To PV or not to PV”: An Analysis of the High Court’s Recent Treatment of Solar Energy

This analysis examines two important judicial reviews concerning financial supports for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems:Solar Century Holdings Limited & Others v Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (hereafter Solar Century), and Breyer Group Plc and Others v Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (hereafter Breyer Group). The former case concerns large-scale PV systems, and the latter case concerns small-scale systems. The following analysis begins by addressing the background, arguments and reasoning underpinning Solar Century,then proceeds to treat these elements in Breyer Group. A Commentary section then juxtaposes and compares both of the decisions