renewables market following the stimulus
already provided to homeowners installing
solar PV.
Chief executive, Dr Nina Skorupska,
said: “DECC, Ofgem and industry have been
working for years on the domestic RHI, and
its launch today is a major milestone for the
government’s green policy record.
“Households off the gas grid now have a
financially attractive clean energy alternative
to oil and electric heating. Already over half
a million people have installed solar power
in their homes to cut their costs and carbon
emissions. Now millions more can do the
same with solar hot water, wood fuel heating
and heat pumps.”
Similarly, the Solar Trade Association
said that this was the final piece of the policy
jigsaw now that consumers have the full
choice of renewable technologies in both
heating and microgeneration of electricity.
Paul Burrell, ceo, said: “With the
launch of the domestic Renewable Heat
Incentive the final piece of support for
household solar technologies slots into place.
Together with the Green Deal for insulation
improvements and the Feed-in Tariff for solar
power, householders now have a great choice
of government-backed financial incentives to
choose from to best suit their clean energy
needs.”
Andy Borroughs,
MD Organic
Energy
Paying tribute
NIBE has directed much of its praise at DECC itself for launching a scheme it describes as
‘game-changing’ for renewable heating.
Unlike the Feed-in Tariff, the UK is the only country with a tariff mechanism which pays
homeowners for the green heat they produce.
“We would like to offer our thanks to DECC for demonstrating such an unprecedented
level of support for renewable heat in the UK – and also to everyone involved in getting the
RHI off the ground” said Phil Hurley, NIBE’s managing director.
“We are optimistic that the wait has meant that industry and homeowners alike will benefit
from a better scheme in the long run.”
Paul Joyner,MD
SBS
Voice of reason
Navitron has urged the industry to be mindful of over reliance on the RHI when making the
financial case to customers to switch to renewable energy when bill savings offer a much
longer term motivation.
Stephen Knight, commercial director for Navitron, said: “Although today’s news is
great, it’s important for everyone in the industry to remember that government incentives
don’t last forever. To ensure the longevity of the renewable heating sector, installers
and distributors alike should use the RHI as a secondary selling point when speaking to
customers – instead focusing on the amount of money that can be saved on annual bills and
how a building’s current carbon footprint can be reduced by installing renewable heating.”
Damage limitation
Neil Schofield, Worcester Bosch Group’s head of external and governmental affairs, has
more cautiously welcomed the introduction of the RHI and questions whether it is enough to
kickstart a faltering renewables market amid claims any momentum has already been lost.
He said: “DECC’s decision to finally open the RHI for applications is a welcome one for
our industry but only time will tell whether this will give the renewables market the lift it so
badly needs.
“With everything now in place, can this market recover from its current state, which
is a far cry from four or five years ago when renewables was a buzz word and interest was
high? The renewables market has underperformed as a result of a series of delays to the
RHI’s launch, and businesses have been damaged as a consequence. The stationary market
we currently have on our hands is certainly a lot more difficult to kickstart than one which is
showing signs of growth.”
Phil Hurley, MD
NIBE
Neil Schofield,
Worcester Bosch
Group’s head
of external and
governmental
affairs
www.renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk | 7