Press release: “Reform” risks collapse as Government renewable heat progress offtrack

“Reform” risks collapse as Government renewable heat progress offtrack

• Government consultation into reform of the Renewable Heat Incentive closes today,
• WHA responds to proposals that would lead to a 98 per cent fall in the deployment of biomass boilers by 2021,
• WHA encourages government to support a wide range of renewable heat technologies in order to meet our urgent 2020 renewable energy targets.

The UK’s largest renewable energy trade association has submitted to Government that if the changes proposed to the principal policy that supports the decarbonisation of the UK’s heat sector were to be enacted, the resulting collapse of the biomass heat industry would result in job losses and a significantly slowed rate of decarbonisation. 

The response to the consultation on reforming the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), submitted today by the Wood Heat Association, outlines the UK’s already poor progress towards meeting its 2020 renewable energy targets and the benefits that supporting the wood heat industry bring, including to British forests which are more actively managed as a result.

International examples of decarbonising the heat sector were also highlighted in the response; biomass represents 89 per cent of the renewable heat in Europe.

Frank Aaskov, Policy Analyst at the Wood Heat Association and Renewable Energy Association, said:

“We need a range of technologies to decarbonise a range of properties. Rural locations for example with no access to a gas network cannot be left behind. Biomass boilers are lowcost, provide significant carbon savings compared to oil boilers, and support the growth of healthy British forests.

For many properties, biomass boilers are a pragmatic low-carbon alternative. They are used in diverse locations, such as at the National Trust property at Ickworth (Suffolk). It is distressing that the government’s proposals would shutter this growing industry and would have us rely instead on largely untested technologies.”

—ENDS—

For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Daniel Brown
Communications and Campaigns Officer
+44 (0)20 7981 0857
dbrown@r-e-a.net

Notes to editors:

• Details of the National Trust’s Ickworth biomass boiler and other renewable investments can be found here.
• The WHA’s previous analysis on the impacts of the proposed changes to the RHI can be found here.