Going Solar's Charles Houston on the risk of delaying the heat rebate scheme

I have been so disappointed by these turn of events that I have written to Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, to urge him to finalise and publish details of this important scheme to reward consumers for reducing their carbon footprint. While I understand that ministers need to review the proposals in view of the current economic climate, I fear the Government’s dithering on the RHI announcement is creating uncertainty in the minds of consumers and could deter them from investing in renewable energy systems. We’re in a hiatus and it’s very hard to make a case for a change to renewables without an idea of payback. While it’s good news that any eligible renewable energy equipment installed after July 2009 will qualify for the scheme, RHI tariffs cannot be backdated and will only apply once the subsidy comes into effect.

That’s why it is vitally important that a statement is made very soon, preferably before the autumn, so we can avoid a similar situation which occurred earlier this year when the Feed in Tariffs were only unveiled two months before they came into force which was far too late; why not give us a good lead-in by an early announcement of the RHI so that the wheels can start turning again now? The RHI scheme will hopefully remain an attractive proposition as the average yearly return is predicted to be between eight and 12 per cent with a payback period of less than 10 years and payments scheduled for 20 years for solar.

You only have to look at the consequences of the disastrous oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico to see that the future must lie in the clean, everlasting and safe energy that hits the Earth’s surface from the sun in such abundance that if we could capture just 40 minutes’ worth of it, that would be more than enough to meet the energy that the whole world consumes in a year.