Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)

What is the Renewable Heat Incentive?

The Renewable Heat Incentive is a new Government-backed measure being introduced in 2011 to make it worth your while to produce renewable heat.

The Renewable Heat Incentive is similar to the Feed-in Tariffs, a similar scheme for electricity which went live in 2010. The Tariffs have done more than anything else to accelerate the installation of renewable energy capacity in Europe. That is why the founders of Renewable Heat Incentive Limited were so active in the campaign to introduce them in the UK. It succeeded and in 2012 the Renewable Heat Incentive will come into force.

While the Renewable Heat Incentive is very similar to the Feed-In Tariffs, there are some important differences due to the fact that pretty much every single property in the UK generates its own heat from a gas or oil boiler. In other words, there is no ‘National Grid for Heat’ and so importing and exporting heat is not relevant and it will be paid for by the Treasury not by energy users.

There are three steps to the RHI:

Step One: You install renewable heat systems in your property such as solar thermal panels, heat pumps or a biomass (wood burning) boiler.

Step Two: An estimate is made about how much heat your renewable energy systems will produce.

Step Three: You get paid a fixed amount based on that estimate.


Who is it for?

Broadly speaking, the Renewable Heat Incentive is for everyone, including households, landlords, businesses, farmers, schools, hospitals, care homes and more. The RHI can even be used by entire communities, coming together to invest in a renewable scheme from which they will all use the heat and share the income.