The Energy Saving Trust has recently released results on the uptake of renewable heating technologies in domestic properties across the UK. The statistics show that the South West (SW) of England is the clear front runner when it comes to greening our homes.

This data has been produced as part of the Government’s Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme which is the forerunner of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for domestic customers. The RHPP runs until 31st March 2012 and provides one off payments to help with the installation costs of different technologies. Voucher values range from £300 for solar water heating, to £850 for air source heat pumps, to £950 for biomass boilers and £1250 for ground source or water source heat pumps.

So far over 3500 vouchers have been issued and over 20% of these have gone to projects in the SW. For installations of heat pumps and solar water heating the SW tops the league in the UK. For biomass boiler installations, the SW has the most domestic installations of all eight English regions and also surpasses uptake in Wales. The 129 biomass projects in the SW are only surpassed by the 180 installations in the whole of Scotland.  You can see the full results here.

One of the likely reasons for this surge in demand in the SW is relatively poor availability of natural gas to rural households. 16% of properties in the region (2.2 million homes) are off the gas grid and therefore have higher heating costs. Including non domestic projects as well as domestic properties there are approximately 400-500 biomass systems in the SW. This is a drop in the ocean compared with what is required to help meet our climate change targets. Regen SW suggests that as much as 7% of the SW’s heating demand could be generated by renewable resources by 2020.

The RHI is currently only available to non domestic biomass installations and provides very attractive returns. See this previous blog for more information. Phase 2 of the scheme which will also be open for domestic properties is scheduled for launch in October 2012.

We can help you benefit from the RHPP and the RHI through our consultancy services and courses. We have also linked up with several established boiler installers in the SW to provide attractive discounts to our clients on their boilers. These include:

• Treco – Guntamatic wood chip and pellet boilers
• Fair Energy – Eta Hack wood chip and pellet boilers
• Dunster Heat – Vigas log boilers
• Eco Angus – Eko Vimar log boilers

For more information call Crops for Energy on 0844 249 2901 or email us

Whatever your biomass energy needs Crops for Energy can help!