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Clean Heat Grant proposed to accelerate low carbon heating

The UK Government has outlined its intentions to replace the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) with a new Clean Heat Grant which aims to help households and businesses decarbonise through technology and push the nation towards its net-zero target for 2050 by phasing out high carbon fossil fuel heating.
In the Government’s publication of its consultation on future support for low carbon heat its proposal to make grants of £4,000 available for consumers wishing to replace fossil fuel boilers has drawn particular attention.  The grant would provide support for heat pumps and, in limited circumstances, biomass and would replace the Domestic RHI tariff scheme which is due to close on March 31, 2022.
In its introduction to the consultation BEIS highlights that currently, heating our homes, businesses and industry is responsible for a third of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions meaning that the decarbonisation of heat is one of the biggest challenges faced in meeting climate targets. The government Heat and Buildings Strategy which will be published later this year will set out actions to reduce emissions from buildings.
The government is considering a range of measures to improve energy efficiency and support the move to low carbon heating and has pledged significant financial support. The consultation sets out plans for a successor to the current RHI scheme – a Clean Heat Grant scheme – to help deliver the phase-out of high carbon fossil fuel heating. The stated aim is to build on the 2017 Clean Growth Strategy, with its announced intention to phase out the installation of high carbon fossil fuels in the 2020s for properties off gas grid.
According to BEIS, the grant will support the deployment of air source, ground source and water source heat pumps and high and low temperature systems, but hybrid heat pumps will not be included.
The full consultation, including details on how to respond, is available online at: https://tinyurl.com/ydyhzvb5