HPA welcomes heat pump grant proposals

UK: The Heat Pump Association (HPA) has welcomed the publication of the UK government’s consultation on Future Support for Low Carbon Heat.

In particular, it welcomes the proposal to make grants of £4,000 available for consumers wishing to replace fossil fuel boilers with heat pumps.

The consultation documents, published yesterday, set out proposals to deliver the UK’s Clean Heat Grant scheme Support through an upfront grant scheme for heat pumps and, in limited circumstances, biomass. 

It proposes supporting domestic and non-domestic installations up to a capacity of 45kW with a voucher system for grant delivery, designed to target the upfront cost barrier. The recommended flat-rate grant across different technology types is £4,000.

In addition, it seeks to establish criteria for ensuring biomass is only installed in properties deemed not suitable for a heat pump.

Describing the proposals as an “important step to decarbonise the way we heat our homes”, HPA chairman Graham Wright thanked the ministers involved for developing the policy proposals “on the basis of sound evidence and economic analysis”. 

“We are particularly pleased that the government has quoted our recent industry roadmap, published last November, within the consultation, and has adopted our proposal for a £4,000 grant per customer, to support heat pump uptake,” Wright said.

“Although there is further dialogue to be had during and after the consultation period, particularly on whether the overall levels of funding are sufficient to deliver the required growth, and ensuring that alternative policy support is developed for larger heat pump installations, today’s announcement is a most welcome step in the right direction.”

In order to ensure a smooth transition to the Clean Heat Grant scheme, the government intends to extend the Domestic RHI in Great Britain for a further year, to 31 March 2022. It is also to introduce a third allocation of flexible tariff guarantees under the non-domestic RHI scheme to extend the commissioning deadlines for projects currently holding a tariff guarantee until at least mid-March 2021.