Members of the Ground Source Heat Pump Association (GSHPA) are disappointed by further setbacks to the implementation of the Government's renewable heating policy.
The association says it is particularly concerned about the lack of detail on a new GSHP tariff for commercial RHI after previous commitments that the new tariff rates would be announced in the middle of March.

Now, the association says, DECC must now make sure that it implements the necessary changes to the commercial RHI scheme in the next few weeks and finalises the details of the domestic RHI in early summer this year so that the scheme can be launched in April 2014. Further delays to the schemes could mean that many more ground source technology businesses will become insolvent and it will be even more difficult for the sector to recover.

However, the GSHPA says it was pleased to see that the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme had been extended until spring 2014. In addition, the GSHPA has committed to continue its close work with DECC to support policy development and looks forward to 'helping the department to refine the current RHPP so that it promotes all technologies on an equitable basis'.

Chairman of the GSHPA lobbying sub-committee, Chris Davidson, said: 'We have been providing DECC with the information they need to finalise policy for several months now so it's hugely disappointing to have further setbacks to both commercial and domestic RHI. However, we were pleased to see Greg Barker's video in which he clearly sets out the Coalition Government's commitment to GSHP technology and the current and near future policies DECC are bringing forward to support the sector. DECC needs to take action now to avoid further job and company losses.'