On the 21st July DECC announced the details of the Renewable Heat Premium Payments Scheme. The government scheme provides money to householders to help them purchase renewable technologies such as biomass boilers, solar thermal panels and heat pumps. This is a short term scheme making a one off payment to a householder.

The Scheme commences on the 1st August 2011 until the 31st March 2012. The scheme for solar thermal is open to any householder. However, for Biomass and other technologies this is only available to householders who are not currently using gas heating.

The conditions to this scheme are that this must be the householders main home and that they have basic energy efficiency measures in place, such as cavity wall insulation/loft insulation to 250mm where practical. Prior to applying to the Energy Savings Trust (EST) the householder should also have all the necessary planning and environmental permissions in place. Also, that the householder resides in England, Scotland or Wales.

Another requirement is that the product such as a biomass boiler and the installer of the product are both MCS Approved, which TRECO is. It is important to note that if the householder is a recipient under this scheme , as long as they comply with the other conditions of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), they will also be eligible for the RHI Scheme.

The Scheme requires that if the householder is entitled to the payments they are required to complete two surveys. Also, as the foundation of this scheme is to gain information regarding heat usage in various homes, a householder may randomly be selected to have a meter installed at no cost, to gain further information, please note that this is a condition of the scheme.  The rates are £950 for biomass boilers, £300 for solar thermal, £850 for air source heat pumps and £1250 for ground source heat pumps.

For further information on the scheme you can contact the EST via their website: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Sell-your-own-energy/Renewable-Heat-Premium-Payment  or via 0800 512 012 or by telephoning Treco on 0845 130 9012 or via info@treco.co.uk .

Ofgem who are administering the RHI on behalf of the government have now published their guidance in two volumes. Volume one discusses the eligibility requirements and how prospective applicants can apply.  Volume two  discusses the ongoing requirements for applicants, along with information on how periodic support payments are calculated and paid.  It also contains details of Ofgem’s compliance and enforcement powers. 

 Applications for the RHI will be online via the Ofgem website, however a paper application can be requested. The applicant can only apply after the parliamentary approval has been received due on the 30^th September 2011.  All potential applicants should retain any evidence of the design, installation and any documentation relating to the installation as this maybe requested during the accreditation stage or afterwards for audit purposes. 

 The general eligibility checklist is referred to in Volume one- that  the installation was completed and first commissioned on or after 15 July 2009 and that the heat generated is for eligible purposes.  All sizes of biomass boilers are eligible for the RHI scheme.

 A further statement is likely to be released by Ofgem at the end of the consultation period after the 5^th August 2011. 

 For any further information on the RHI and Ofgem and our range of Austrian Guntamatic biomass boilers please contact Treco Ltd on 0845 130 9012 or via info@treco.co.uk or www.treco.co.uk .

Walter Wagner, the Export Technical Sales Manager with Austrian based boiler manufacturer Guntamatic, has visited Treco this week to provide training on their new Control Panel.  The user friendly control panel is on each boiler and is a state of the art touch screen menu, which displays any system messages onto the screen.   The various buttons can be used to change and save settings or switch to different levels or menus. 

For further information on the control panel and our range of Guntamatic boilers please contact Treco by replying to this comment or on 0845 130 9012 or via info@treco.co.uk .