Green Appeal of the Renewable Heat Incentive - Yorkshire Heat Pumps

The Yorkshire Post has been investigating the green appeal of ground and air source heating systems and featured one of our installations in their recent article.

Sharon Dale of The Yorkshire Post has been exploring the growing appeal of ground and air source heat pump systems and highlights the impact the government's Renewable Heat Incentive scheme is having on the uptake of this green heating technology.

First launched in 2014, the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme was designed to neutralise the cost of switching from fossil fuel heating systems to renewables. Homeowners are paid a set tariff per kilowatt hour of energy required to heat their home, based on the deemed heat requirement on their property's Energy Performance Certificate.

Depending on the size of the property and cost of the installation, many homeowners were not just recouping the cost of the installation, but were making a tidy return on their investment too. However, in October last year heat demand limits were introduced, which cap the payments homeowners can receive - up to 20,000kWh for air source and 30,000kWh for ground source systems. 

While these caps may be a disincentive to some, increases to the tariffs for ground and air source heat pump systems were also announced in October which have made switching to renewables appealing to others who will now fully cover the cost of installation.   

Domestic RHI payments are made quarterly over a 7 year period and are paid at the prevailing tariff at the time of application, for the full 7 year term, but with small annual CPI increases. In addition to the RHI payments, renewable systems can have signficantly lower operating costs, particularly compared with oil or LPG fuelled systems, so that needs factoring into any calculations to determine the cost benefits of switching.

For Richard Dutton, Yorkshire Heat Pumps installed a NIBE system comprising two 12kW ground source heat pumps to heat his 2,700sq ft barn conversion. His RHI payments should cover the cost of installation in under 6 years, on top of which he's benefiting from fuel savings of around £1,200 a year for the long term.

You can read Sharon Dale's full article here.

If you have a project you'd like to discuss or are just starting your renewables journey and want some guidance,on what renewable heating solution might be right for you, please give us a call on 01423 788699 or arrange to come in and see us at our Harrogate showroom.