Renewable Energy Installer December/January 2016 | Page 18

Knowledge: Solar thermal
Level playing field
Stephen Knight, commercial director at Navitron, discusses the prospects for
solar thermal, advocating the withdrawal of ‘distorting’ tariffs
here’s no question about it, the entire renewables industry
has been in a constant state of uncertainty since the
Feed-in Tariff was implemented in 2010 – but even more
so this year thanks to drastic changes to government-run
incentives overall.
In a span of just three months following the General Election, we
saw two government-run renewable incentives disappear, as funding
for both the Green Deal and Green Deal Home Improvement Fund
was completely cut. In that same time, talk of drastically cutting and
possibly closing the FiT also began.
Despite this, technologies like solar PV, air source heat pumps
and biomass have continued to thrive, leaving other technologies,
particularly solar thermal, struggling to compete.
One and a half years into the domestic RHI, and solar thermal is
seriously underperforming against other technologies covered by the
scheme by some margin. According to Ofgem figures, from September
2015 solar thermal has attracted 3,300 less accredited installations than
biomass, and 11,200 less than ASHPs.
But why has solar thermal performed so poorly compared to other
technologies?
T
RHI delays
The negative effects of government incentives on solar thermal started
way before the dRHI’s launch in 2014.
When the dRHI was announced in 2010, a large drop in solar
thermal sales hit because anyone considering installing a system
decided to wait until more details were revealed. A four year delay
in implementation caused further reductions in sales which, when
combined with the introduction of FiT, moved consumer focus firmly
to PV. By the time the dRHI came into effect, consumers had either
lost interest in solar thermal, spent the money they had set aside for
renewables, or no longer had roof space to spare.
Lower tariff rates
Since the launch of the FiT, renewables companies have seen a
continuous industry-wide decline in solar thermal sales. Many thought
this would change when the dRHI came into effect, which many firms
were relying on to give a much-needed boost to solar thermal. It didn’t
though, because dRHI payments are barely an incentive compared to
solar PV – with which it competes for investment and roof space.
Another contributing factor to low solar thermal uptake is that
biomass and heat pump payments are much more generous than
the tariffs set for solar thermal, leading those considering renewable
heating to steer away from hot water panels.
Incentives = drop in efficiency
Prior to the advent of incentive schemes, the industry was selling
18 | www.renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk
Mixed blessing: Providing support for solar thermal under the RHI has done
more harm than good, says Navitron’s Stephen Knight
unsubsidised, high-efficiency products, like solar thermal and
ground source heat pumps. However, this changed in 2010 with the
introduction of the FiT and then the RHI. Despite solar thermal being
up to 70 percent more efficient in collecting heat from sun rays than
solar PV, and GSHPs running on less power than its above-ground
counterpart, a shift to selling subsidised but less efficient technologies
like PV and ASHPs occurred.
End game
Simply put, solar thermal sales could be salvaged and saved by the RHI
and other incentives being put to an end.
Schemes like the RHI and FiT have distorted the market and
introduced an element of uncertainty that makes companies reluctant
to invest in the long term. Removing them would create a level playing
field where all technologies can compete and be sold strictly on their
merits – not how much there is to be made from incentives.