The UK government’s Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) is marketing the new domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) as the world’s first long-term financial support programme for renewable heat, offering homeowners payments to offset the cost of installing low carbon systems in their properties. The scheme is open to everyone who wishes to install renewable heating systems, such as biomass boilers, solar thermal panels and geothermal ground source heat pumps, into their properties and it is aimed specifically as an incentive scheme to try and drive down carbon emissions from the country’s domestic heating systems.
“This is the first scheme of its kind in the world” said Energy Minister Greg Barker, “showing yet again that the UK is leading the way in the clean energy sector. Not only will people have warmer homes and cheaper fuel bills, they will reduce their carbon emissions, and will also get cash payments for installing these new technologies.”
As well as providing an incentive for domestic householders to ‘green’ their heating systems, the scheme also opens up a market for the supply chain, for engineers and for installers, which in turn will generate growth and jobs.
Technologies supported by the scheme include biomass boilers using feedstock such as wood pellets, chips or logs; pellet-only stoves with integrated boilers; ground or water source heat pumps; air to water heat pumps and solar thermal panels. An air-source heat pump will attract a tariff of 7.3 pence per kilowatt hour (kWh) of heat generated, rising to 18.8p per kWh for ground and water-source heat pumps, 12.2p per kWh for biomass boilers and biomass pellet stoves with integrated boilers and 19.2p per kWh for solar thermal panels.
Only one space heating system per property is allowed under the scheme but householders can apply for solar thermal for hot water and a space heating system. Guaranteed payments are made quarterly over seven years for householders in England, Wales and Scotland (Northern Ireland has its own RHI scheme). The scheme is supported by the Renewable Energy Association (REA) which commented that the introduction of the scheme could make 2014 a ‘breakthrough year’ for renewable heating in the UK.
“Domestic RHI is set to be one of the highlights of the Government’s green agenda in 2014” said Mike Landy, head of on-site renewables at the REA. “It will mean that renewable home heating is not just environmentally sensible, but also financially attractive.”
Cathy Debenham from YouGen added that people should ensure the system they choose is right for their home before switching their heating systems as not all renewable technologies are right for every property. A heat pump for example runs at a much lower temperature than a standard boiler and is therefore suitable for well-insulated homes, ideally with underfloor heating. A biomass boiler meanwhile is significantly bigger than an oil boiler and will therefore need more space, plus space to store the fuel.
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