£6m renewable heat scheme launches

A £6 million competition to get renewable heating kits into the homes of social tenants has been launched today, the Department of Energy and Climate Changed has announced.

The new competition, part of the extended Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) Scheme which was announced earlier this year, will help registered providers of social housing to install heat pumps, solar thermal panels and biomass boilers. 

The scheme, run by the Energy Saving Trust, will be judged by a panel of experts on a range of criteria including value for money, fuel to be replaced, additional energy efficiency measures to be installed and plans to work with local communities. Social landlords already allocated money under previous rounds of this competition are eligible to apply for further funding for new projects. 

Greg Barker, energy minister, said: “This new investment in renewable heat projects will enable social landlords across Great Britain to get innovative renewable heating kit into the homes of their social tenants. This will help save money on energy bills and provide low carbon alternatives to traditional heating systems. 

“More than 100 social landlords are already taking advantage of over £13million under our renewable heat competitions. I would encourage more social landlords to rise to the challenge and get involved.” 

DECC said it will host a number of events to help social landlords through the application process over the next few months and the first round of successful bidders will be announced in the summer. 

The first bidding window will close on 28th June 2013, with projects to be completed by march 2014, and the second on 27th September 2013, with installations to be finished by June 2014.