An £860 million fund to grow the take-up of renewable heat generation in the UK has been welcomed by Stephen Scown’s renewable team as a ‘great opportunity’ for local businesses.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has published details of its long-awaited Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme which will pay businesses and householders for the amount of usable heat they produce from renewable sources.
The tariff scheme will apply to technologies such as biomass, thermal solar and ground source heating over the next four years and is initially aimed at commercial, industrial and public sector installations.
Support for domestic installations will come through the Renewable Heat Premium Payment in the first year of the scheme until the Green Deal is introduced in October when households will become eligible for RHI tariffs
If it takes off, as the Government predicts, the impact of the RHI would be the equivalent of taking 20 gas-fired power stations off the National Grid.
Sonya Bedford, head of renewables at Stephens Scown, said: “This scheme is all about scaling up the use of renewable heat technology in an effort to reduce carbon emissions and create a competitive market that eventually brings down the cost of technology to make it affordable for all.
“In the south west there are more than 100 companies working in the heat pump sector alone so the availability additional funds to effectively reward people for generating renewable heat is a great opportunity for suppliers, installers and technicians, and will have a positive knock-on effect in the supply chain.”
