Industry welcomes the delayed domestic RHI
The DECC’s announcement that payments under the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive will start to be paid from spring 2014 has been widely welcomed in the industry. The scheme covers solar-thermal, biomass boilers and heat pumps — both ground source and air source. The rates are 7.3 p/kWh for air-source heat pumps, 12.2 p/kWh for biomass boilers, 18.8 p/kWh for ground-source heat pumps and at least 19.2 p/kWh for solar thermal.
BEAMA’s marketing director Kelly Butler comments: ‘The package should kick start a market that has been waiting to take off since the RHI was first announced in 2009.’ And the Renewable Energy Association points out that anyone installing renewable heat today under the RHPP (Renewable Heat Premium Payment) grant scheme, which runs until March 2014, will also be able to apply for the RHI.
Mark Houghton, commercial director with Space Air, said, ‘At last we have confirmation that investors in air-to-water heat-pump technologies will be able to benefit from RHI payments, and we expect this to translate into fresh market stimulus for which we and the industry have been preparing.’ The scheme is also available to those on a gas grid.
The Heat Pump Association notes that payments will be related to predicted efficiency, encouraging better practice. A statement says, ‘The HPA will continue to press for additional technologies in the non-domestic scheme, notably air-source heat pumps.’
The Ground Source Heat Pump Association believes the domestic RHI will facilitate the change from gas to green technologies and notes that the greenest technologies will receive the greater tariffs.
Commenting on biomass, Martin Cotterell of Sundog Energy says that installing a wood-pellet boiler will have fuel costs around a third less than oil or LPG, so an installation can be expected to pay for itself in four to five years.
