Ireland’s Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (DCCAE) has today released a consultation document on design and implementation options for a Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). Frontier (Europe) and Energy Element provided the analysis for the consultation document.
As part of Ireland’s strategy to meet its obligations under the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive, the Irish Government has targeted the delivery of 12% of final heating demand from renewable sources by 2020. While the deployment of renewable heating technologies has progressed significantly in recent years, recent analysis suggests that the 2020 target will not be met under the current set of policies.
In order to increase the proportion of heat demand from renewable sources, a cross-governmental working group has recommended an Exchequer-funded RHI could be implemented with a view to reaching the 2020 target. The RHI is a financial incentive aimed at promoting the use of renewable heat in non-domestic buildings.
The DCCAE is now consulting on design options for the RHI policy and requirements for implementation. The underpinning analysis by Frontier and Element Energy supports the consultation in two main ways:
- Providing an economic assessment of the cost of introducing an RHI with the objective of meeting Ireland’s 2020 renewable heat target.
- Developing a set of cost-effective design options for the RHI structured so as to support investment in the efficiency and effective design, installation and operation of renewable heating technologies.
Frontier regularly advises clients on issues relating to energy efficiency and renewable heating.
For more information, please contact media@frontier-economics.com or call +44 (0) 20 7031 7000