News: Analysis
Seeing is
believing
The industry has been
talking about it for five
long years but as of
Wednesday 09 April, the
domestic RHI has finally
become a reality. The
sector gives its reaction.
ith the stakes so high for a
sector already battered by three
damaging delays, the news that
the regulations had been signed
into law and that Ofgem was
open for applications was understandably
greeted with much enthusiasm.
For manufacturers, suppliers, installers
and sellers of biomass, solar thermal and heat
pumps, work can now begin to attract the
large numbers of consumers incentivised by
the financial package on offer to move away
from fossil fuel boilers.
“It’s great to hear that, after many delays,
the criteria for the domestic phase of the RHI
has finally been confirmed. By encouraging
end users to switch to renewable heating
products, we should see an increase in the
uptake of technologies,” summed up Mustafa
Findik, md of Ariston UK.
Mark McManus, md of Stiebel Eltron
UK, added: “We have been waiting a long
time for today’s announcement, but now that
it is here it has the potential to transform the
uptake of renewable technologies in the UK.”
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6 | www.renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk
Confidence boost
Both Plumb Center and Sustainable Building
Solutions pointed out the impact that 750,000
installations predicted by 2020 will have on
the size of the sector and the supply chain.
“We are expecting the RHI to do for the
renewable heating sector what the Feed-in
Tariff did for solar PV,” said Paul Joyner, md of
SBS.
“This is a great opportunity for installers
to maximise their income by adapting their
business to cover all aspects of each RHI
project – the assessment, the retrofitting of the
building fabric, and the installation of the heat
pump, biomass, or solar thermal technology.”
Plumb Center’s renewables director,
Simon Allan, added: “The launch is great news
for the renewables market and we’re sure
the government’s announcement will give
renewed confidence to installers.”
Heating revolution
According to Silvio Spiess, ceo of Innasol, the
introduction of the RHI is particularly timely
given the large recent increases in the cost of
energy from the ‘Big Six’.
He added: “We have some of the least
energy efficient homes in Europe and by
making the switch you not only save money
each year on your heating bills (up to 45
percent) but also help to bring down CO2
emissions. The UK is far behind its European
cousins due to a lack of awareness of the
modern, efficient and reliable technologies
already available as well as the considerable
benefits they offer over traditional dirty fossil
fuel solutions.”
Simon Cross, commercial director at
IXUS Energy, was in agreement saying:
“There’s been so much talk around the
scheme with many people saying ‘we’ll
believe it when we see it’. Now it has
officially been given the green light, there
will undoubtedly be a positive knock-on
effect. People who are tired of ever-increasing
energy bills should consider renewable energy
systems like biomass boilers.”
Policy milestone
The Renewable Energy Association
credited the introduction of the domestic
RHI with levelling the playing field in the