The dramatic struggle over the British Government’s dramatic feed-in tariff (FIT) cuts continued today, with the High Court ruling that they were illegal. The slashing of the FIT came into effect on December 12, 11 days before the official consultation period on the policy closed.

The PV Taskforce at the Roofting Center, located in Washington D.C., has released a draft report into photovoltaic roof racking. It attempts to bring the photovoltaic and roofing community together, in order to formulate criteria and recommendations as to the most effect roof racking for photovoltaic systems.

Some in the industry can be surprised when public or academic reports predict photovoltaics playing a small role in the world’s future energy mix, on the basis of cost. It is often repeated that the technology is just too expensive. But recent research from Queen’s University and Michigan Technological University has shown that the price of photovoltaics is often vastly overinflated in these studies.

Developments in thin-film module manufacturers and technology have provided a talking point as industry news winds down before Christmas.

While the rain fell outside, solar industry proponents have put their case to an independent committee in Sydney this week. The committee has been established to determine tariffs photovoltaic producers receive for electricity fed back into the grid. Electricity retailers presented a vastly different case to the committee members.

In the presentation of its 2012 guidance today, First Solar has announced a strategy to focus on serving “non-subsidy” markets in the future. The key will be to reduce costs to ensure that its photovoltaic power plants can compete with traditional power producers.

While most recent news from Norwegian polysilicon and module producer REC, has involved it scaling back its higher-cost manufacturing operations, the company has signaled its intentions to move into the Japanese market.

The University of the South Pacific has connected Fiji’s largest grid-connected photovoltaic system, to the island of Suva’s electricity grid on Saturday. The landmark installation is a part of a wider project by Fiji and the university to equip Pacific Islanders with the requisite skills to see the photovoltaic industry provide electricity to communities throughout the region.

PV Japan has opened today while a battle over the composition of the committee, which will determine the specifics of the renewable energy feed-in tariff (FIT), rages.

A study released this week, by the Australian Photovoltaic Association (APVA), has shown that while photovoltaic systems are approaching or have realized retail cost competitiveness throughout the country, large-scale ground mounted installations require government support to compete on the wholesale market.