Speaking to Solar Power UK, the Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said that he will shortly be announcing that the portion of the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme set aside for social landlords will go up by 33 per cent on the original budget.
The funding available for the installation of renewable heating equipment is to increase by a third, to £4 million.
The RHPP, which is now closed to new bids, allocated up to £175,000 to housing providers to subsidise the installation of different types of renewable heating equipment in their properties including solar thermal hot water pumps, biomass boilers, and ground and air source heat pumps.
The scheme is worth £15m in total, with £3m initially set aside for social landlords. Applications for the social housing element closed on 15 September, with the allocations due to be announced shortly. Mr Barker said 34 projects had been successful, although he added that take up for the scheme overall has been a little disappointing.
Mr Barker said: 'Unlike FITs the take up under the RHPP is marginally slower than expected, particularly for solar thermal, and I would urge you all to embrace this scheme which is due to finish at the end of March next year.'
Speaking about the review of the FITs scheme, Mr Barker said that the Government needs to help deliver the most cost-effective building carbon savings, and as such the Green Deal and the Feed in Tariff must be brought together as a coherent package for consumers.
He said: 'I know that Solar PV is a transformative technology, easy to understand, quick to install and completely reliable. But critically, PV costs have plunged since the tariff levels were set, down by as much as 70 per cent in 2 years according to Bloomberg.
'At rates like that, this sector should demonstrate clearly and openly that it is passing on these exciting and dramatic price reductions to consumers. So the tariff levels need to reflect these new prices. By using these incredible cost reductions, the most dramatic of any energy generating technology, you can build a compelling case for grid parity, not as a concept but as a reality. I believe solar is already well on the way to that destination.
'But there is a delicate balancing act to perform to avoid boom and bust, as shown by the bubbles in countries like Italy, Spain and France, fuelled by over generous feed in tariffs. The Coalition inherited a slow, unresponsive and misinformed scheme but I still believe passionately that Feed-in Tariffs are essential.'
