NICEIC has welcomed the recent announcement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
The announcement promises the £860m to increase green capital investment by £4.5 billion up to 2020, stimulating a new market in renewable heat. DECC claims the RHI will provide an incentive to increase number of industrial, commercial and public sector installations by seven times to 2020.
A full system of RHI payments will be available to households from October 2012 and before that more than a quarter of the first year’s budget is to be guaranteed for up to 25,000 household installations through a “RHI Premium Payment” to encourage take-up.
“We are delighted that the government has announced this major incentive for renewable heat,” states Emma McCarthy, chief executive officer for NICEIC. “DECC believes 150,000 existing manufacturing, supply chain and installer jobs will be supported by the incentives and NICEIC believes any boost to the trade through promises such as this are vital in the current economic climate.”
“Renewable heat is a largely untapped resource and an important new green industry of the future,” says Secretary of State Chris Huhne. “This incentive is the first of its kind in the world. It’ll help the UK shift away from fossil fuel, reducing carbon emissions and encouraging innovation, jobs and growth in new advanced technologies.”
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has a huge task ahead of it; meeting the UK carbon reduction targets of 2020. The Climate Change Act 2008 set legally binding emission reduction targets for 2020 (reduction of 34 percent in greenhouse gas emissions) and for 2050 (reduction of at least 80 percent in greenhouse gas emissions), and introduced five-yearly carbon budgets to help ensure those targets are met. Renewable energy is part of the government’s solution in meeting these targets.
“With householders now given the incentives to install renewable technologies, the opportunities for the electrical, heating and plumbing trades are significant and NICEIC will be at the forefront of this industry, providing certification, training and advice,” adds Emma.
For more details on the scheme go to www.decc.gov.uk/rhi.
For more details on NICEIC log onto niceic.com