The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)

The British Government has committed to meet stringent carbon reduction plans in the UK Renewables Roadmap and Heat Strategy programmes.

In order to do this, it is offering a payback program that rewards renewable heat users and installers for their commitment to biomass or heat pumps. This is called the Renewable Heat Incentive.

This scheme is in fluid and constant development, consisting of numerous consultations over the year on its development and two phases. Currently the renewable heating sector is in phase 1 of the RHI, focused on encouraging the uptake of renewables in the non-domestic sector, particularly commercial, industrial and large heat users such as historic and stately homes, health care and the public sector.

In April 2013 the RHI tariffs have been updated and we are currently updating our literature to suit this change. You can download our biomass RHI application guide below. If you would like to find out more about the RHI for heat pumps you can email us to be added to the document update list or contact our heat pump sector here.

Recently DECC have announced that the results of their most recent consultations will be publicised in Summer 2013. It looks likely that phase 2 of the RHI will be announced in Spring 2014 (alongside the non-domestic phase announcements). Currently, DECC are looking to include a wider variety of heating technologies and develop this sector in the coming months of 2013-2014. This includes the domestic development of phase 2.

The Heat Strategy outlines a drive toward cutting reliance on fossil fuels as it has been calculated at around 80% of today's British industry and heating relies on fossil fuel.

Part of this strategy includes:

• A £9million package to help local authorities. This will aim to help authorities obtain heat network schemes in urban areas across the UK. In order to do this, a dedicated Heat Networks Delivery Unit has been created to sit within the DECC and provide advice.
• £1million for the cities of Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield and Nottingham to help them develop heat networks.
• 100 green apprenticeships. These will be funded primarily for young people in small scale renewable technologies across the country.
• Up to £250,000 will be provided for a 'first come first served' voucher scheme for heat installers. This will allow them to get money off the cost of renewable heating kit installation training, and could provide up to £500 (or 75%) of the cost of training courses per person. 
• Directly working with industrial sectors to encourage renewable heating and processing uptake, aimed to design long term pathways to cut their carbon use.