7 May 2021: Non-domestic RHI: increase to biomass and other technologies COVID extension application budget caps: COVID-19 response
Updated 3 April 2022
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
© Crown copyright 2022
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-the-renewable-heat-incentive-rhi-schemes/7-may-2021-non-domestic-rhi-increase-to-biomass-and-other-technologies-covid-extension-application-budget-caps-covid-19-response
The 5 November 2020 government response contained details of a mechanism to aid non-Tariff Guarantee (TG) eligible projects impacted by COVID-19 related delays that had invested resource into project development prior to 17 August 2020 (the date of the Notice that initially announced these proposals).
This mechanism provides these projects with an additional 12 months after scheme closure (on or before 31 March 2022) to commission and submit a properly made full application for accreditation, providing that they submitted a properly made ‘extension application’ to the scheme during a window in March 2021.
Technology specific budgets were set in line with the technology profile of recent NDRHI deployment trends, to ensure that no one individual technology can utilise an oversized portion of the total budget for this measure and block other technologies from having fair access to this funding.
The department regularly reviews latest deployment data and forecasts. An increase in the total annual budget for these applications and the technology-specific budget for ground and water source heat pumps was announced in December 2020. The department has now decided to increase again the total annual budget for these applications and the technology-specific budgets for ‘Biomass’ and ‘all other non-TG eligible technologies’. The application window is now closed but properly made applications that are currently in the queue will be processed if the increased allocation means there is sufficient budget. The amended annual budget for extension applications is as follows:
| Technology | Budget p/a FY 2022 / 2023 onwards (£m) * |
|---|---|
| Total | 9.6 |
| Biomass (<1MWth) | 4.9 |
| GSHPs (<100kWth) | 3.6 |
| All other non-TG eligible technologies | 1.1 |
*As accreditations will be staggered over the course of the extension period, spend for FY 2021 / 2022 will be below 2022 / 2023 levels. As such, the budget caps used reflect a full year’s worth of NDRHI spending on these installations.
All other details of this mechanism, including evidence requirements, remain as set out in the 5 November Changes to NHRHI support and COVID-19 response publication.