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The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) has set out reforms to the domestic and non-domestic renewable heat incentive (RHI) to “maximise the contribution” they will make to the decarbonisation of heat.
Decc said it expects its proposals to “rebalance” deployment and spending in support of various technologies supported by the scheme.
In November last year the government confirmed a continued budget for the RHI. It said it expects spending to rise from £430 million in 2015/16 to £1.15 billion in 2020/21. And Decc estimates the RHI will support 23 TWh of renewable heat generation in 2020/21.
The government is intending to introduce changes in two stages, the first being implemented in April 2016.
The first stage will include a budget cap mechanism to ensure ongoing affordability of the RHI schemes and allow the energy secretary to suspend new accreditation if there is a risk the RHI will exceed its budget cap.
Applicants will also no longer be required to undertake a Green Deal assessment.
The second set of reforms will be implemented in spring 2017 and will improve access for those less able to pay, promote deployment of those technologies which are likely to be strategically important in the longer-term, and introduce heat demand caps to promote affordability and value for money in the domestic scheme.
For the non-domestic RHI the government is proposing to move to one tariff for all new biomass boiler deployment, introduce tiering to minimise the risk of overcompensation for biomass-CHP plant, and limit the support for to new biogas and biomethane plant using crop-based feedstocks to instead promote a focus on wastebased feedstock.
Decc said it also intends to remove support for new solar thermal schemes in order to promote value for money.
“We expect these reforms to drive greater uptake of a wider range of technologies and potentially also new uses of low-carbon heat,” it said.
Last month Decc revealed the RHI has been a key driver in the uptake of biomass heating systems among households.
The consultation will close on April 26.
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