Let green jobs grow with the renewable heat incentive

The government risks squandering Labour's green legacy if the high level of expectation is allowed to turn into frustration
Chris Huhne
The Renewable Energy Association claim that Chris Huhne's moving of the date for the RHI sapped the confidence of potential investors. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA

Way back in February 2010, a bold and radical secretary of state by the name of Ed Miliband set the ball rolling for the renewable heat incentive (RHI). It was a ground-breaking proposal to boost dramatically over time the proportion of heat generated from renewable sources in the UK.

Carbon emissions would be driven down, and many thousands of new green jobs would be created throughout the country in the design, manufacture, installation and servicing of renewable heat products. There would be direct wins for communities and householders who could take advantage of the RHI to financially insulate themselves against rising heating costs.

So here we are, over a year later, and … well… we're still waiting. The initial consultation took place in the spring of 2010, so we were expecting some steady progress. A general election that brought a change of government got in the way. There was then some doubt that the RHI would survive the cuts in last autumn's CSR, particularly after Chris Huhne "forgot" to put the RHI into the coalition agreement. But it did survive, and then Christmas came and went, and people and businesses saw once again the costs of heating their homes rising in a severe and prolonged cold spell.

The government needs to stop dithering and produce immediately the detailed proposals for the RHI. Throughout the country, companies are standing by, ready to roll out the scheme, but not until the government gives absolute clarity on the details: What technologies will be eligible for the RHI? What will the tariff levels be? Will it support heating at all scales, including households, businesses, offices, public sector buildings and industrial processes in large factories?

In February, in an open letter to the energy secretary, Chris Huhne, the Renewable Energy Association claimed that the continually moving date for providing the mechanisms for the RHI was "sapping the confidence of potential investors" and that "numerous projects are on hold, with recruitment frozen in many companies and other companies having to lay-off staff." They state categorically that "uncertainty and delay is damaging the industry."

What was a high level of expectation and interest over the past year is rapidly turning to frustration and anger. It hasn't been helped by the Tory-led coalition's recent inept handling of the feed-in tariff review, which sent shockwaves through the solar photovoltaic sector and called into question the government's ability to give certainty to the renewables sector as a whole.

When he discussed the RHI in July 2009, former Conservative shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change, Greg Clark, said that "policy doesn't need to be this complicated" – and he's right. Labour's proposals were laid out a whole year ago when we were still in government, covering technologies such as solar thermal, geothermal, air source heat pumps, and ground source heat pumps.

Don't squander Labour's green legacy, Mr Huhne. Start by publishing the finalised RHI proposals, let the green jobs grow, and the carbon emissions shrink.

Huw Irranca-Davies is shadow energy minister


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