Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive

[The Solar King]

The results of the consultation and resulting proposals have been published today and can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/renewable-heat-incentive-proposals-for-a-domestic-scheme

There is quite a bit to digest, but here are some headlines. If I have made any errors from my initial skim, my aplologies:

Domestic tariffs will in general be deemed, levels will be as follows:
Air Source Heat Pumps: 7.3p/kWh
Biomass: 12.2p/kWh
Ground Source Heat Pumps: 18.8p/kWh
Solar Thermal: 19.2p/kWh

Payments will be for a seven year period. There will be a digression mechanism which has yet to be announced.
Energy efficiency measures will be based on Green Deal Ticks, meaning a GD survey.
Legacy systems since July 2009 are eligible.

Other technologies are not included but there is a mechanism for them to qualify. Thermodynamics is specifically excluded at this stage. They know what they have to do to qualify. As yet no one has taken up NAREC's invitation to independently test the equipment which would be a first stage to accreditation.

Solar thermal will be deemed using a new procedure which will be outlined in the revision of MIS3001. The procedure will be based on SAP2012, taking in to account whether there are electric showers or not and also the seasonal efficiency of the back up heat source. This is actually good news as this new procedure will significantly increase the output estimation for solar thermal. I have the calculation in draft but without the uplift for no electric showers. (increases hot water use by 29%). Will post something if and when I have it available.

Solar thermal can be bivalent with other technologies and Both will receive full RHI payments. This is because it is recognised ST boosts the seasonal efficiency of the other technologies.

Overall, this is good news, and provides a framework to get the domestic side of renewable heat moving. The devil is always in the detail.

A special thank you to Stuart Elmes, CEO of Viridian Solar, chair of the STA Solar Thermal group, recognised expert in his field, and all round good egg for the enormous amount of time he has given and hard work he has done in the background on behalf of the industry to get to where we are with the RHI.

 

[The Solar King]

Had a skim of the impact assessment as well. This is for my own interest in Solar thermal. The important stuff is on pages 9 and 10

A lot of what they are saying is based on a counter intuitive argument that there would be 5000 installations a year with out the domestic RHI. From this they calculate there may be a 'dead weight' in the incentive of £1.4m. It has to recognised that a large amount of this will be accounted for by new build and another proportion incentivised by the RHPP. It appears they do not really know what the installation level for the technology will be at the proposed tariff and acknowledge that a tariff higher than the cap set by offshore wind may be necessary to drive the market.

New build is excluded from the domestic RHI as DECC feel building regs should drive take up as it is already doing so.

They are saying 'at least 19.2p' which is the lower figure of the VFM cap at the moment. It could be 21.7p which would help a little. It is unlikely we will get the 27p requested although they appear to accept this may be the required level.

Interestingly, the door is not closed on this one. The tariff is not confirmed, so it appears there is still work to do on this one.

Looking at it overall, we are better off than we were under the old scheme in 2010 where you could get approximately 50% of the cost of an install. If you work on a cost of £4500-£4800 for a good quality 4sqM system, you should get somewhere between £2350 and £2750 in RHI and a fuel saving of £600-£650 over the same period (based on gas).

My one major worry on all this is it may drive the wrong part of the market to fit cheap and nasty equipment to try and increase returns. I am already getting plenty of emails wanting to sell me kit from the Wan King Solar Company on the other side of the planet, the provenance of which looks highly dubious.

There are a large number of roofs out there that are unsuitable for PV but ideal for ST due mainly to small size.

I am hopeful this may just be enough to get things moving. Time will tell.

 

[Worcester]

My one major worry on all this is it may drive the wrong part of the market to fit cheap and nasty equipment to try and increase returns. I am already getting plenty of emails wanting to sell me kit from the Wan King Solar Company on the other side of the planet, the provenance of which looks highly dubious.

Those guys were around before we've seen loads of bad solar thermal installs, the danger is this brings the same shiny suited rogues out of the cupboard again. Bottom line is I'm afaraid your worst fears WILL happen, we just need to position ourselves properly for it

 

[MCS Renewables]

The truth is that they never went away and REAL/RECC has done nothing to remove them from the register .
New company name and new paint job, new registration

Simplee solar , They tell you solar panels are eco-friendly and save you money. The truth? They don't work much of the time and take 100 YEARS to pay for themselves... | Mail Online

became Staywarm solar , Stay Warm Energy - Blagger.com - The place to leave feedback and comments about companies you have used

then Energy Conservation Group, Solar Panels UK | Generate Solar Power | Solar Panel Installers :: The Energy Conservation Group

and now are The Green Home Energy org, Thermodynamics - Green Home Energy

and also Lee Comer Energize installers of renewable energy


Its always the same names, check the photos .
Always using subbies and 1980s sales techniques.

Also selling the wonderful thermodynamic panels , say no more .....

Now explain to me why REAL/RECC cannot join the dots and exclude these people and their sub contractors.

They make an absolute fortune, they dump all their liabilities every few years with a name change, they target the old and vulnerable, they then spend obscene amounts on marketing to draw in the next victims.

There is absolutely nothing you can do about it, the quangoes and alphabet associations need the paying memberships !!

 

[danesol]

Any further update on this ??