A late announcement from the department of energy and climate change (DECC) has delayed the government’s renewable-heat incentive just hours before it was due to go live.
The NFU has spoken for suppliers and customers in expressing its dismay and disbelief at the eleventh-hour hold up.
Jonathan Scurlock, NFU chief renewable energy and climate change adviser, said: “Growers and farmers expecting to benefit from supplying heat using biomass boilers, solar-water heating and ground-source heat pumps will be disheartened at this dramatic setback to their business plans.
"The government has repeatedly put off the implementation of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), resulting in potential customers holding off purchasing decisions and technology providers hesitating investing in the supply chain. So far this has achieved the opposite of what the RHI was intended to do, which was stimulate the market for renewable heating.”
In a statement, DECC said the delay was due to its failure to obtain state-aids clearance from the European Union. “Once we have received written confirmation from the European Commission, we will make a further announcement about what this means for the large biomass tariff and the timing of the launch,” the statement read. “We are committed to launching the scheme as soon as possible to minimise disruption to stakeholders.”
Unofficially, the new date for launch is widely understood to be at the end of November.
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