The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced on Friday 18 November that 24 social housing landlords have each secured up to £175,000 in the first phase of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) to install green heating systems, with air source heat pumps proving the most popular technology.
BusinessGreen reported that according to the Energy Saving Trust, 53 per cent of the schemes are planning to install only air source heat pumps, because they can be retrofitted into homes that are off the gas grid.
The 24 winning landlords are spread across the UK, which pleased Climate Change Minster Greg Barker who stated “This scheme directly targets many of the people who could struggle to pay their heating bills in the winter and I am pleased so many social housing organisations across the country will be able to get a share of the cash… It will encourage an increase in the number of new heating technologies in social housing and help people deal with expensive fuel costs.”
DECC has issued 2,680 vouchers that offer private households up to £1,250 to help with green heating through the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP), a forerunner to the full RHI scheme.
As with social landlords, air source heat pumps were the most popular technology for private households, particularly in England and Wales. Pumps account for 921 of the 2680 vouchers issued.
The full RHI scheme will function like the Feed in Tariff, paying businesses or householders based on the amount of renewable heat they generate.