Update on Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) - Feb 2013

Here is our latest snapshot on the progress being made by the Renewable Heat Incentive.

Total installations are now approaching 1,000.  The first bio-gas and bio-methane installations are now online, including the country's first RHI accredited bio-methane plant at Poundbury on the Duchy of Cornwall estate.  Installed capacity is now at 213 megawatts.

If we look at data from previous months we can see that the rate of uptake is steady and it has taken roughly five months for the number of accredited installations to double.  This rate of progress, whilst modest, is probably a good thing for the scheme overall as more rapid acceleration (or sudden step changes) could affect Ofgem's ability to manage the scheme.

The red dotted line in the figures above and below is a simple linear trend line.  At this stage the rate of progress remains steady and the scheme should reach 350 MW of installed capacity by August 2013.

The actual heat generation from the current installations is shown in the pie chart below.  Biomass still accounts for the vast majority of all output.  

Note that the single bio-methane installation (anaerobic digestion) is already the fifth largest heat generator - a hint at the enormous potential of this technology.  It will be interesting to see how many bio-methane and bio-gas installations can be supported by the RHI given the fixed annual budgets and cost control mechanisms that are in place.

A video of the J V Energen plant at Poundbury can be viewed below.  More information can be found here.

RHI - Quarterly Update (October to December 2012). The report presents the latest statistics and gives you an overview of recent activity and administration of the scheme.

The latest quarterly report in the RHI (October to December 2012) provides the latest snapshot of progress being made:

• 426 new applications were received between 1 October and 31 December, and 409 installations were accredited under the scheme – an 80% increase on the number of installations accredited in the previous quarter (227).

• 72 megawatts (MW) of additional capacity was added to the scheme (of which 1.9 MW came from preliminary accreditations) during the last quarter - a 47% increase on that added within the previous quarter (49.04 MW).

• £1.3 million in scheme payments were made - a 53% increase on those made within the previous quarter (£849,406).

• The enquiries line is averaging over 2000 calls a month with an increase in recent months and a peak of approximately 3500 calls in November 2012.
• Applications in the last quarter generally showed improvements in quality, and the number of applications we accredited increased by 80% from September.

In December 2012, the RHI scheme accredited its first biomethane installation located at the Duchy of Cornwall estate at Rainbarrow Farm, Poundbury. The Prince of Wales opened an Anaerobic Digester (AD) and biomethane to grid plant which will provide renewable gas direct to the local community. The plant is owned and operated by J V Energen, a joint venture between the Duchy of Cornwall, J V Farming and agri-business strategists ABP Ltd.

At maximum capacity the plant will provide enough renewable gas for 56,000 homes in the summer and 4,000 in the winter and is the first plant in the UK to inject renewable gas directly into the local gas distribution network under the RHI.