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• The Government minister who steered the region’s renewable energy sector towards “months of uncertainty” last night faced calls for his resignation following his department’s latest embarrassing defeat. Greg Barker, the Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, was told the confusion surrounding the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) attempts to slash the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) cashback scheme had left the South West’s solar energy sector on its knees.

• It followed a landmark decision at the Court of Appeal yesterday, which refused the Government permission to contest December’s High Court ruling that cuts to the tariff were “illegal”. It means, subject to any further appeal to the Supreme Court, solar tariff payments will remain at 43.3p (p/kWh) until March 3 when – following Government moves last week – they will fall to 21p. Nigel Jenkins, of Devon-based Eco NRG Ltd in Modbury, said the whole affair had been “chaotic” for months and claimed Mr Barker needed to take responsibility.

• “The Government got its figures wrong, plain and simple,” said Mr Jenkins, who is now looking to re-employ the seven staff sacked as a result of “horrendous” uncertainty regarding the tariff in December.“Companies have gone to the wall and people have lost their jobs – it has been diabolical. Mr Barker has to be accountable for that and he should resign.”Despite being defeated by four top judges, the Government could yet look to the Supreme Court in an effort to overturn the decision. Such a move would represent the Government’s final chance of revocation, though failure would further deepen the embarrassment and add significantly to the current taxpayer-funded court costs – with yesterday’s estimated to be in the region of £125,000.

• Finian Parrick, of Exeter-based Fair Energy, added: “The fact that the Government wants to take the case to the Supreme Court will continue to muddy the waters for the entire industry. This smacks of clever tactics.”Merlin Hyman, of renewables champions Regen SW, confirmed that the industry was in a “challenging and awkward position”.He said: “DECC has not covered itself in glory but at least it has been making the case for renewables. What we need, however, is a clear framework.”Andy Tanner, for Penzance-based Plug Into The Sun, agreed with the need for a renewables vision, adding many people within the industry “lacked confidence” in Mr Barker.

• He said: “Mr Barker is a bit like a major in the Army – though I don’t think we as his troops would be keen to follow him into battle.“We are all looking forward to a period of stability after this boom time, but you have to make hay when the sun shines.”Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth which took DECC to court, said: “This landmark judgement confirms that devastating Government plans to rush through cuts to solar payments are illegal – and will prevent ministers from causing industry chaos with similar cuts in future.”

• The South West was tipped for a “solar gold rush” 18 months ago, following the FiT launch. The region’s unrivalled levels of solar radiation meant smallholders increasingly found their land coveted by developers keen to install large-scale solar farms, in exchange for a cut of the profits.Community groups and homeowners also took the first tentative steps towards trimming their carbon emissions and boosting funds for local schools, churches and good causes.

• But the Government’s fear that the fund would be gobbled up by large companies – rather than the communities it was intended for – resulted in plans to slash the cashback tariff and fast-track deadlines for completion. It left a promising yet embryonic industry largely moribund, with many marquee projects on the scrap heap and staff facing redundancy.Yesterday’s decision is already prompting a resurgence in solar plans, as West developers clamour to install projects ahead of deadline.

• Ian Smith, managing director of Cornish charity Community Energy Plus, said: “The way that DECC has mishandled the situation has put jobs at risk.“While we’ll probably now see a frantic five weeks for householders to install and register their systems to get the higher FiT rate, it’s important that the industry and householders look at the bigger picture which is that the 21p rate still provides a good return on investment.”DECC last night confirmed it was considering a Supreme Court challenge, and that a decision would be made within 28 days.

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