Boost for heat pumps in non-domestic RHI
The inclusion of more types of renewable energy, especially air-source heat pumps for the non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive and significant increased in tariffs for existing technologies have been enthusiastically welcomed by the industry. Amended tariffs will apply to installation’s accredited since 21 January 2013. The new tariffs will apply to installations first commissioned since 4 December 2013.
Air-source heat pumps now qualify for the non-domestic RHI, which the Heat Pump Association sees as ‘a further demonstration of the hard work that trade associations, including the HPA, have invested in working with the Department of Energy & Climate Change and other agencies such as OFGEM’.
The tariff for air-source heat pumps is 2.5 p/kWh — for 20 years after installation.
Tony Bowen, president of the HPA, said, ‘It is widely thought that this long awaited extension to the non-domestic scheme should go some way to help redress the very clear imbalance in the scheme whereby biomass dominated the small and medium sectors and, as a result, has had tariff reductions for new entrants applied several items since initial launch in November 2012.
The tariff for ground-source heat pumps up to 100 kW (thermal) has been increased from 4.8 p/kWh to 8.7 p/kWh for the first 1313 full-load equivalent hours and 2.6 p/kWh thereafter. The new tariff is even more beneficial to larger GSHP installations, for which the tariff was previously 3.5 p/kWh.
Simon Lomax, chairman of the Ground Source Heat Pump Association, said, ‘It is rewarding that Government has responded to expert representations from the association and delivered revised non-domestic RHI tariffs which will stimulate increased deployment. A near doubling of the benefits is recognition of Government’s intent to support the technology.’
Clyde MacVeigh, marketing director with Dimplex Renewables, said, ‘The non-domestic phases of the scheme has suffered from the glaring omissions of air-source heat pumps since it was first introduced in 2011. It was a bewildering omission of a proven technology which is well suited to commercial retrofit projects, particularly in off-gas areas in place of oil or LPG.
‘Now the inclusion of air-to-water heat pumps and increased tariffs for ground-source heat pumps will finally provide further encouragement for installers and organisations to take advantage of the benefits of high-efficiency heat pumps.
The tariff for large biomass above 1 MW thermal has been doubled to 2 p/kW. The tariff be solar thermal is up from 9.2 to 10 p/kWh.
