Renewable Heat Incentive too low for large projects
The Renewable Heat Incentive will fail to stimulate the market for large-scale ground-source-heat-pump systems when it is due to start in April 2011, according to a director of a leading supplier. Patrick Sheriff, sales and marketing director of Geothermal International, says, ‘The proposed rate for large-scale GHSP systems over 350 kW is simply not big enough to kick-start the industry — and as this is the size of system which is best suited to many business, that poses a problem.
‘The Government is in danger of failing to meet its own targets because the Renewable Heat Incentive [RHT] does not offer enough to businesses — which, after all, have collectively a huge potential for reducing carbon emissions.’
The rate for GSHP systems above 350 kW is 1.5 p/kWh for 20 years, compared with 7 p/kWh for 23 years for systems under 45 kW and 5.5 p/kWh for 20 years for systems from 45 to 350 kW.
Patrick Sheriff said, ‘The tariff needs to be set at a level where the payback is in the region of six to seven years for a business — and the proposed rate of 1.5 p/kWh for GHSP systems over 350 kW is woefully inadequate.’
The company claims to have installed more than 80% of GSHP systems in the UK. They include the large lake loop at Mansfield and the large closed-loop system at Gloucester Police headquarters.
