‘Disappointing’ is the message from Industrial & Commercial Energy Association (ICOM) in response to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) consultation: The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI): A reformed and refocused scheme.
Ross Anderson, director of ICOM, said: “We understand that the government has to get value for money from its policies, however, the proposed changes to the non-domestic RHI give the wrong message regarding renewable energy.
“Biomass boilers have been the most popular category under the non-domestic RHI, but by reducing the tariff, will not encourage a greater take up of heat pumps. This proposed reduction in tariff will reduce the biomass boiler sales and will drive end users to use fossil fuel products based on a cost decision.
“We believe solar thermal should remain within the scheme, as it is the technology that people see and they relate solar to renewable energy. The removal of the solar tariff will contribute to the message that renewable energy is not important.
“All too often the non-domestic heating sector is the ‘poor relation’ to the domestic sector. If this government truly wants the RHI to encourage the uptake of renewable heating systems within the non-domestic market, it needs to create a scheme that is both workable and robust.”