The Renewable Heat Incentive has survived the Government's massive spending review and will proceed as planned in 2011. Chancellor George Osborne announced that the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) will be introduced to allow the UK to have the best possible chance of meeting its 2020 carbon targets.
The renewable industry will welcome this as a major boost for renewable heat technologies such as air/ground source heat pumps and solar thermal panels.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has confirmed £860 million is being allocated to fund the RHI with further details on consumer rates and terms to follow.
Thomas Farquhar, sales manager for MCS accreditation specialist Easy MCS, said: 'We work very closely with large numbers of renewable heat installers across the UK. This will be a major boost for them as they are going to see a huge fluctuation in demand for their services which will inevitably lead to job creation. At Easy MCS we support installers through the Government's MCS accreditation process which once they are approved allows them to offer government funding like the RHI to consumers. Since the [spending review] announcement, we have seen a huge surge in visits to our website and our phones lit up with people asking about getting MCS accredited so they could offer this new renewable heat funding.
'The only challenge the industry is now facing is one of a shortage of MCS accredited and quality installers. With government predictions for installations under the RHI running into several millions, there is going to be a huge shortage of accredited installers at a time of surging demand. We would highly recommend anyone looking into becoming a Renewable installer starts the accreditation process as soon as possible so as to get themselves established to take advantage of this announcement.'