Government Energy Statement dodges question on future of RHI
In the Energy Statement given yesterday, July 27th, the Government stated that an announcement on renewable heat would be made within this autumn’s spending review. The exact wording being: “The Government is fully committed to taking action on renewable heat. The Government is considering responses to the Renewable Heat Incentive consultation and will set out detailed proposals on how to take forward action on renewable heat through the Spending Review.”
Pressed further in questions by MPs, the Secretary of State for Energy, Chris Huhne, made the following comment: “On the renewable heat incentive, the statement is clear about our commitment to renewable heat, which is absolutely essential if we are to meet our target. [...] the country is facing an exceptionally severe fiscal crisis and ... it is inevitable that we deal with these matters in the context of the spending review. However, people in the sector can take considerable comfort from my words today about renewable heat.”
Scott McLean, marketing director of Ownergy, the full service provider of renewable energy systems, commented: “The good news is that the Government has positively confirmed its commitment to furthering renewable heat in this country. The bad news is that we are going to have to wait several more weeks before we discover exactly what it plans to do. As we wait, projects of all sizes are being delayed and it is clear from what our installers are telling us that this is causing considerable difficulty within the industry.
“We obviously welcome the fact that Chris Huhne stressed the importance of renewable heat and that he tried to reassure the sector that the Government is positive about supporting renewable heat generation. Unfortunately, it is unclear what the Government is actually considering and therefore why the sector should feel positive. Will the RHI go ahead? Will it be delayed? Will the focus be switched to large heating systems, such as anaerobic digestion and biomass, or to district heating systems? All of these questions are thrown up by the Energy Statement but in no way answered. We hope the Government understands what such uncertainty and delays will mean in terms of the impact on the 2020 target of increasing renewable heat from 1% to 12% of country’s total heat generation.”
