Tag Archives: Renewable Heat Incentive

Contribution of wood burning to PM10 in London

14 December 2014: Sunday Times article covering how ‘Wood-fired stoves fuel city pollution‘. The author points to evidence supporting the article’s findings in an academic paper (fully available) published earlier this year in the journal ‘Atmospheric Environment‘ ‘Contribution of wood burning to PM10 in London‘:

“Air pollution from domestic wood burning has long been recognised as an important contributor to poor ambient air quality in Scandinavian and alpine regions of Europe where wood burning is routinely used for residential space heating. However, recent evidence is suggesting that biomass burning might be more widespread…The current study sought to determine the existing contribution of wood burning to PM10 in London so that the impacts of increased biomass burning can be quantified in the future.

 

Posted in Library | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Increased grant for solar thermal systems

May 2013: DECC announced earlier this week that they were going to increase the level of grants given to householders to purchase renewable heat technologies. The Renewable Heat Premium Payments (RHPP) vouchers scheme was supposed to be an interim measure before the introduction of the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), however the life of the RHPP has been extended as a result of delays to the introduction of the RHI. Government announced earlier this year that they expect the scheme to be in place now in Spring 2014 instead of Autumn 2013.

Technologies that qualify for the RHPP include Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP), Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP), biomass boilers and solar thermal systems. However – Londoners only qualify for solar thermal – this is because priority for the other technologies is given to households off the gas-grid.  As a result, the number of renewable heat installations installed in London under the RHPP is very low (see Table 2.2 of the latest RHPP deployment data here).

Continue reading…

Posted in News, Renewable Energy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Renewable Heat Grant Statistics

19 April 2012: The Government’s Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme operates for a limited period  prior to the introduction of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) – and provides  money to householders to help buy renewable heating technologies – solar thermal panels, heat pumps and biomass boilers.

For solar thermal products, any householder in England, Scotland and Wales can apply – hence the grants are applicable to Londoners. However, for ground to water, air to water or water to water heat pumps, and for biomass boilers, householders without gas central heating in England, Scotland and Wales can apply (in other words those who are not connected to the gas grid and currently rely on fuels such as oil, liquid gas, solid fuel or electricity for their heating).

The Energy Saving Trust (EST) manages the scheme and have just produced statistics showing the installation of Renewable Heat Premium Payment technologies by regionA total of 74 installations were installed in London out of a total of 5,369 installations across England, Scotland and Wales (just over 1%). The breakdown in London is as follows:

  • Air Source Heat Pump – 21
  • Ground or Water Source Heat Pump – 2
  • Solar Thermal – 51
Posted in Data Store, News | Tagged | Leave a comment

Renewable Heat in London

21 February 2012: Angie Bray, MP for Central Ealing and Acton, asked the following  question in Parliament on the extent of the operation of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) in London:

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many organisations in London have received support from the Renewable Heat Incentive to date. [94815]

Gregory Barker: None of the five installations accredited to date by Ofgem for support from the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme are based in London. Payments under the scheme will be made on a quarterly basis following submission of eligible heat usage data. We expect to make the first payments in March.

The RHI tariffs are paid for 20 years to eligible technologies with payments being made for each unit (kWh) of renewable heat which is produced. The second phase of the RHI scheme will see it expanded to include more technologies as well as support for households. Further information is posted on the DECC website.

The RHI is to be introduced in two phases. The scheme opened for non-domestic applications on  28 November 2011 and, as the answer outlines, only  a few schemes have been accredited to date, none of which are in London.

In the interim to Phase 2 being launched, the Government also introduced a grant funding programme, the Renewable Heat Premium Payment scheme, which will run from 1st August 2011 to 31st March 2012. As detailed previously (here and here), the grants will be focused on ‘non-gas grid’ sites, and hence London will miss out on receiving any support for the installation of technologies such as heat pumps, solar thermal panels and biomass boilers.

The RHPP is managed by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) who produce weekly statistics on the grants given out. Disappointingly they do not provide detail of the  grants given out by county or local authority, only by country. The latest (15 February) statistics can be seen here.  It’s interesting to note that with just over a month of the scheme still to go, only £3.9m of the £15m RHPP funds appear to be allocated.

Posted in News, Renewable Energy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

RHI FAQ

December 2011: Ofgem question and answer factsheet providing assistance to applicants who intend to apply for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Scheme.

Posted in Library | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

London Loses out on Renewable Heat Grants (Part 2)

17 November 2011: DECC announced today “The 24 successful applicants [who] will receive up to £175,000 to install green heating systems such as biomass boilers, solar hot water panels and heat pumps in the homes of tenants. Successful bidders included projects across the whole of Great Britain…” except in London. This is because – as highlighted in a previous post – the Renewable Heat Premium Payments are directed to households not on the gas grid.

Posted in News, Renewable Energy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

London Misses out on Renewable Heating Grants

21 July 2011: After mentioning yesterday that DECC had not as yet launched their renewable heat grants programme, this morning I see a press release announcing the start of the Renewable Heat Premium Payment’ scheme. However, DECC have now stated that the scheme will be mainly focused on households not heated by mains gas – so the opportunities for Londoners to benefit will be greatly reduced. In short the scheme will provide:

  • £15 million in total to support up to 25,000 installations; and
  • Householders will need to ensure they have basic energy efficiency measures in place before applying

From 1st August, grants for the following technologies will be available:

  • Ground Source Heat Pump – £1250 grant (for homes without mains gas heating)
  • Biomass boiler – £950 grant (for homes without mains gas heating)
  • Air source heat pump – £850 grant (for homes without mains gas heating)
  • Solar thermal hot water panels – £300 grant (available to all households regardless of the type of heating system used)

So Londoners who wish to take advantage of this scheme and install solar thermal panels (that is – if they’re not thinking of  using their roofspace for PVs…) should go to the Energy Saving Trust’s website who will administer the scheme. Further information is also available on the RHPP DECC factsheet here.

Posted in News, Renewable Energy | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Renewable Heat Incentive Guidance

24 June 2011: Back in March, DECC announced details on the launch of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). Some of the key points of the announcement included:

  • The regulations to introduce the RHI are currently going through Parliament  and are anticipated to be approved by summer 2011
  • The RHI would then be introduced “shortly thereafter” (anticipated  30 September 2011)
  • The scheme will be introduced in two phases with  non-domestic sectors targeted first – that is larger heat users in the industrial, business and public sectors. Tariffs for the various technologies within this phase (ie non-domestic scale projects) were announced in DECC’s March RHI press release.
  • Household sector support through the RHI would be introduced in October 2012, to tie in with the launch of the Green Deal however…
  • …In the meantime, up to 25,000 household installations will be supported by a £15m “RHI Premium Payment” to help people cover the purchase price of green heating systems and help encourage take-up of renewable heat technologies
  • The likely levels of support (set out in the DECC press release) for the RHI Premium Payments were: Solar Thermal – £300/unit; Air Source Heat Pumps – £850/unit; Biomass boilers – £950/unit and Ground Source Heat Pumps – £1250/unit
  • Details of the Premium Payment were originally said to have been issued in May, for a July 2011 start,  but as yet no information has appeared (the Ofgem paper released today – more of which below – simply says “Further information on the Renewable Heat Premium Payment will be available later in the year from DECC.”
  • Regulations around the October 2012 domestic/household phase of the RHI will be consulted upon next year.
  • Further details on the RHI are on DECC’s website.

Ofgem, who will administer the scheme, have today launched a detailed (two volume…) consultation on the eligibility criteria for installations wishing to apply for the RHI, including requirements such as the regular submission of heat data, meter readings and fuel data for certain bioenergy installations.

Posted in News, Renewable Energy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment