We will not be able to expand renewable heat without some form of financial assistance because other forms of heat are currently cheaper.  Such support will enable more people to afford renewable heat and, by expanding the market, help bring costs down more quickly.

Common examples of renewable heat technologies include: air- and ground-source heat pumps, biomass boilers, solar-thermal water heaters and combined heat and power (CHP) plants which use renewable fuels.

Powers in the Energy Act 2008 allow the setting up of a Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).  Our aim is to make the RHI as accessible, flexible and user-friendly as possible to potential investors in renewable heat at all scales. We are working to have the RHI in place for April 2011.

On 1^st February 2010, the Government published a consultation on the proposed design of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, which it aims to introduce in April 2011. The consultation seek views on a number of aspects of the proposed scheme, including tariff levels.

Details on wider heat policy can be found on our Heat webpage.

Following research published for the Renewable Energy Strategy consultation last year on the prospects for renewable heat in the UK, we commissioned further research by NERA and AEA on the UK supply curve for renewable heat.  The purpose of the analysis was to validate and expand existing analysis on the potential deployment for renewable heat technologies leading up to 2020 and to look into the potential contribution of the industrial and commercial/public sectors.  The data resulting from this study has played a key role in helping us design the structure of the Renewable Heat Incentive. The report has now been published and is also available on the Renewable Energy Strategy web pages. The Impact Assessment, which accompanies the RHI consultation document, is also available on the RHI consultation web page.