Renewable Heat Incentive ("RHI")

Tuesday 29th November 2011 The RHI finally came into force on 28 November 2011. It provides for payments to commercial scale:

1.    producers of biomethane
2.    owners of an installation, which generates heat, providing:
•    the applicant is the owner of the installation
•    the installation is of an eligible technology type and size (see table)
•    installation of the plant was completed and first commissioned on or after 15 July 2009
•    the heat must be used for space, water or process heating
•    the heat must be used in a building
•    the installation has not received, and will not receive, a grant from public funds
•    the plant must be new at the time of installation
•    the heating system must use a liquid or steam to deliver heat
•    for installations of 45 kWth and below, the equipment and installer must be certified under the MicroGeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) (or equivalent)

The applicable incentives and the eligible technologies are as detailed in the following table.

Tariff name	Eligible technology	Eligible sizes	Tariff rate (pence/kWh)
Small biomass	Solid biomass: Municipal Solid Waste (incl. Combined Heat and Power)	Less than 200 kWth	Tier 1: 7.9
			Tier 2: 2.0
Medium biomass		200 kWth to (but not including) 1,000 kWth	Tier 1: 4.9
			Tier 2: 2.0
Large biomass		1,000 kWth and above	1
Small heat pumps	Ground-source heat pumps; Water source heat pumps; geothermal	Less than 100 kWth	4.5
Large heat pumps		100 kWth and above	3.2
Solar thermal	Solar thermal	Less than 200 kWth	8.5
Biomethane	Biomethane injection and biogas combustion, except from landfill gas	Biomethane all scales, biogas combustion <200 kWth	6.8

The RHI is currently aimed at commercial rather than domestic customers. Although the RHI is intended to be extended to domestic customers, there is no certainty when this will happen and the guidance is yet to be produced.
 
Ofgem is responsible for operating the RHI on behalf of the UK government, although the scheme does not apply in Northern Ireland at this stage. The application process for the RHI is online via Ofgem's website (although there is a paper based backup for those that do not have internet access).

It will be interesting to see what the take up of the RHI is. Take up of the Feed in Tariff for solar pv considerably exceeded expectations, leading to reviews and reductions in support.
 

Ashfords LLP is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.  The information in this note is intended to be general information about English law only and not comprehensive.  It is not to be relied on as legal advice nor as an alternative to taking professional advice relating to specific circumstances.