Turning up the heat
With the introduction of the Renewable Heat Incentive, and orders for solar PV panels falling due to a reduction in the Feed-In Tariffs, is it time to broaden your renewables offering to include heat as well as power? Andrew Brister reports
W
ell, it was good while it lasted. The government’s deep and sudden cuts to its Feed-In Tariffs scheme for renewable power have been a blow to the fl edgling
solar photovoltaic (PV) industry. As housing authorities turn their backs on an emerging technology that promised so much, contractors bear the brunt of a rapid drop-off in orders and are forced to lay off staff. Of course, this is not the end for solar. The costs of PV
modules and installation fees have plummeted since the FITs scheme was introduced in April 2010, and a reduction in the tariffs on offer was expected – although a drop from 43p/ kWh to 21p/kWh is higher than many would have liked. What has caught out contractors and manufacturers alike is the speed of the cuts. Rather than coming into force from April 2012 as predicted, there was just six weeks’ notice from announcement to implementation; maybe enough time for householders to complete one-off projects but certainly not enough for social landlords to fi nish planned roll-outs across their estates. The result is a host of cancellations and redundancies.
Renewable Heat Incentive So what now for renewables? With the coalition hoping that the solar PV market now has enough momentum to carry it forward, it is now looking to kickstart renewable heating in the same way as it did renewable power. After all, despite the cuts to FITs, there are legally-binding carbon reduction commitments to meet. So the end of November saw the delayed start of the world’s fi rst Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme. The RHI (see box overleaf for more details) operates in a similar manner to the FITs
42 ECA Today January 2012
programme, providing payments for heat generated from renewable technologies, including biomass boilers, solar thermal equipment and heat pumps. Recipients will be paid up to 7.9p per kWh for biomass boilers, 8.5p per kWh for solar thermal, and up to 4.5p per kWh for heat pumps. Equipment installed since 15 July 2009 is eligible under the scheme. Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker
commented: ‘The RHI will usher in a new era in clean green heat technology. It’s a world fi rst and has the potential to put the UK at the forefront of a vibrant new green technology sector. Renewable heat will be a big win for our economy – it will support thousands of green jobs, reduce our dependency on imported fossil fuels, reduce our carbon emissions and help us meet our renewable target.’
Emission statement The government hopes that the RHI will cut emissions by 43 million tonnes of carbon by 2020 – equivalent to the annual carbon emitted by 19 typical new gas power stations. Up to 500,000 jobs are expected to be created in the renewables industry as a whole by the end of the decade. Some ECA members will see the RHI as an opportunity
to grow their businesses. ‘The subsidies on offer will create a good market for ground source heat pumps in the commercial sector,’ says Bill Wright, head of Energy Solutions at the ECA. ‘We see good scope for contractors to either get the requisite training or to team up with a ground source installer who can do the heat pump sizing, ground works and connect up to an underfl oor heating system. There is a lot of electrical work there. ‘Overall, though, the RHI does not offer ECA members
About the author
Andrew Brister Andrew Brister is a freelance journalist and editor. He has been involved in the building services sector for more than 20 years.
quite so much as the FITs scheme, but there will also be opportunities on the metering and controls side.’ ECA member Wessex Group has not been slow at getting
into renewables, and is further encouraged by the RHI scheme. ‘Yes, the RHI will be good news on the commercial side,’ says Thomas Mortimer, renewable energy manager. ‘We will be looking to join up with our partners at Wessex Building Services, bringing our renewables expertise and their large projects experience together to offer another
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