Renewable Energy Installer February 2015 | Page 22

Opinion
Growing
opportunities
with the RHI
Robert Burke, HETAS, reflects on 10 months of
the domestic RHI
A
s we approach the first
anniversary since the launch of
the domestic Renewable Heat
Incentive (dRHI) in April last
year, we have a reasonable amount of data
to assess whether the scheme has been a
success or not. The most recent data available
at the time of writing shows that applications
grew steadily every month since the scheme
was launched, with over 13,000 installations
accredited by the beginning of October.
Air source heat pumps make up 37
percent of all accreditations followed by solar
thermal (25 percent), biomass (23 percent)
OFGEM has reported
that biomass systems are
outperforming expectations
in terms of renewable heat
generated
and ground source heat pumps (15 percent).
However, there was a significant increase in
the number of biomass accreditations made
in October, partly driven by seasonality and
partly because of increased activity from
suppliers and installers. Indeed, OFGEM
has reported that biomass systems are
22 | www.renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk
There are currently more
MCS approved products
than installers
outperforming expectations in terms of
renewable heat generated.
Rural areas which have traditionally
relied on oil heating are proving to offer the
areas of most opportunity for RHI installations.
South West England remains the region with
the highest percentage of accreditations
at 20 percent. The region with the largest
percentage increase for accreditations from
the first quarter (April 2014 to July 2014), to
the second quarter (August 2014 to October
2014) is Wales with a 132 percent increase,
shortly followed by South West Scotland with
a 115 percent increase.
However, there are still concerns that
there are not enough biomass installers
approved under the Microgeneration
Certification Scheme (MCS). There are
currently more MCS approved products than
installers, and the growing number of RHI
applications – especially in rural areas – offers
a great opportunity for existing oil and gas
engineers to add biomass to their existing
skills to take advantage of the increase in
demand for renewables. Companies who
have invested in MCS registration are already
benefitting in terms of products supplied and
installations.
In October last year over half of the £1.7m
payments made under the domestic RHI
went to biomass. Off grid areas offer the most
opportunity for installers with figures showing
that oil is the most common fuel to be
replaced by renewable technologies under the
RHI. To cater for increased training demand
HETAS has recently revised the HETAS
HD005 direct entry course, which caters for
heating engineers who want to add biomass
to their existing competencies. It’s just one
of the many initiatives which HETAS has put
in place to support installers and consumers
under the RHI.
There are cost benefits to being both
HETAS and MCS registered, and for more
details on the RHI, MCS certification and
training please visit the HETAS website
www.hetas.co.uk.