Ardenham Energy’s Neil Lawson
Responding to yesterday’s statement by energy minister Greg Barker MP on the proposed budget for the Renewable Heat Incentive, Neil Lawson, head of renewable heat at Ardenham Energy said: “These are artificial mechanisms conceptualised in an ivory tower. The Treasury is seeking to control a budget at all costs and DECC is responding with a tsunami of destruction throughout the RHI industry.
“This will stop the development of a specialist renewable heating sector in its tracks. The only way that businesses will be able to survive a peremptory suspension of the RHI will be to ensure that RHI-based work is only ever a minority of their work stream.
“Nor can I see how customer expectations can be managed. It will be like playing Russian roulette. As each month passes with a dull click, the chances of the next month reaching the threshold increases. And when the upper limit is hit and DECC’s bullet blows the plans apart, what happens to the hapless installer who told the client that they would benefit from the RHI? What happens to the client? Do they decide not to turn their heating on until the next financial year and commission it then?
“It’s time to go back to the drawing board and start from the basics with a simpler scheme.”
