The Government has awarded £7m to 46 social landlords across the UK to put renewable heating in their tenants' homes.
Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker made the announcement yesterday (24 July).

The 46 winners are the first wave of successful bidders to be announced under the latest round of the social landlords Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) competition, launched in May this year.

The winning social landlords will use the funding to help install a range of renewable heating kit such as air source heat pumps, ground source heat pumps, solar thermal installations and biomass boilers. Two successful landlords include Stroud District Council, Gloucestershire, which plans to install more than 400 air source heat pumps, and Devon and Cornwall Housing, which is looking to install over 150 ground source heat pumps into homes.

Greg Barker said: 'The Coalition is determined to help consumers with the rising cost of living. This latest cash boost for social landlords will help install nearly 2,400 renewable heating technologies in the homes of social tenants, helping hard pressed families save money on their energy bills.

'It's great to see so many social landlords across Great Britain getting involved. The second strand of our renewable heat competition is still open to bids so I would encourage those who have not yet taken advantage of the funding available to get on board.'

Bids were reviewed by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) and assessed by a Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) panel of representatives from EST, DECC and the Scottish and Welsh Governments on a range of criteria including value for money, fuel to be replaced, additional energy efficiency measures to be installed and plans to work with local communities. The winning projects offer the best value for money and mix of renewable heat technologies to be installed. Projects will need to be completed by end of March 2014.

Social landlords can still apply for funding under the second strand of the RHPP scheme via the EST website. The bidding window will remain open until 27 September 2013 and this round is aimed at social landlords who have required more time and support with developing their proposals and submitting applications. Installations under the second round will have until June 2014 to be completed.