The solar industry has pledged to continue to push to keep solar thermal as the government’s consultation on plans to cut off all support for the technology closed on April 27, 2016.
The domestic Renewables Heat Incentive (RHI) currently supports four different heat technologies – biomass, air source heat pumps, ground source heat pumps and solar thermal – but the government is planning to strike just the latter off the list.
If the plans go ahead the long established and strategically important heat technology would be removed from the RHI entirely as of early 2017. It is thought the final decision is likely to be made in July.
There is currently 350GW of solar thermal capacity installed around the world – considerably more than solar PV. Investing in solar thermal can currently provide a five to eight per cent return on investment for a typical homeowner and in summer months can provide almost all of a home’s hot water needs, argues The Solar Trade Association (STA).
A survey conducted by the body over the last week shows that 83% of the industry back its proposals for reform of the scheme to boost take up and provide more value for money.
Mike Landy, head of policy at the STA, said: “Everyone gets the sense of using heat from the sun to meet our hot water needs. So it’s hard to understand why the government is proposing to remove solar thermal from the country’s toolkit to fight climate change, especially when the UK is also struggling to meet its renewable heat target.
“Recent months have shown renewed market interest in solar thermal from consumers, so we call on the government to reinvigorate its support, not cut it off. Otherwise the country risks losing a strategically important option to reduce emissions and our reliance on fossil fuels.”