Committee on Climate Change

Historically, there have been few financial incentives for the uptake of low carbon heat in the UK.  However, this is set to change with the introduction of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which will provide guaranteed payments to householders and businesses using low carbon heat.

The Government has committed to providing £860 million between 2011 and 2015 to support this ‘feed-in’ type mechanism. Final proposals for the RHI were published in March 2011, with the scheme due to start in the summer of 2011. In the first phase, the RHI will focus on support for non-residential heat applications. A full system of RHI payments will be available to households from October 2012. Further funding will be required to support renewable heat in the period 2015-20 and in the 2020s.

At present, due to the very low levels of usage of low carbon heat technologies, consumer attitudes to low carbon heat will have to change if there is to be significant growth in the use of these technologies in homes and businesses. Element Energy conducted a detailed study for us into the barriers that could limit the uptake of renewable heating technologies in 2020 and 2030 (insert link to report).

Overcoming these barriers will require strong encouragement from Government, provision of information, and measures to reduce transaction costs (e.g. hassle costs). Sustainability and other environmental concerns (e.g. air quality) also need to be addressed.

Our Renewable Energy Review also recommended that approaches to renewable heat and energy efficiency (i.e. the Renewable Heat Incentive and the Green Deal) should be integrated. Accreditation of installers is crucial if supply chain bottlenecks are to be avoided and consumer confidence improved.