The details of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) have recently been released and unfortunately are not as straight forward at the feed in tariff.

For domestic systems, the RHI is split into two phases, as follows:

Phase 1 (available from July 2011) is called the “RHI Premium Payment”, will be worth around £15m and available to 25,000 householders in Great Britain who install from July ‘11.

The exact amounts available to consumers have yet to be confirmed. However the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have announced that the following amounts may be available:

Solar Thermal - £300 per installation
Air Source Heat Pumps - £850 per installation

Biomass boilers - £950 per installation
Ground Source Heat Pumps - £1,250 per installation

These are one off payments; so not annual. Applicants for this payment will need to ensure that:

They have a well-insulated home based on its energy performance certificate;

They agree to give feedback on how the equipment performs.
Further guidance, including how to apply will be available shortly.

Phase 2 (available from October 2012) – RHI tariffs

People in receipt of the Renewable Heat Premium Payments will be able to receive long term RHI tariff support (approx 20 years) once these tariffs are introduced, as will anybody who has installed an eligible technology since 15th July 2009.

These tariff payments will start alongside the Green Deal from October 2012 to allow a more whole-house approach to heat production and energy saving.

The tariff levels have been published only for non-residential systems - and many have changed from the initial proposals.

The tariffs for non residential systems have been calculated to give an approximate 10% return on investment, except for solar thermal where the figure is much lower (probably about 5%), and we can only estimate that the returns will be similar for domestic installations.

For a no obligation consultation and to see how you can profit from a green energy solution, please contact us.