Solar installers in the UK have been equipping themselves to extend their offering to Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) technologies, according to SBS, part of the Travis Perkins Group.
With many solar installers looking to sell and support RHI products, there is still some work to be done to ensure the industry fully understands the scheme.
“Colleagues from Solfex and other brand suppliers have commented that, there has been notable interest from installers who’ve begun to gather information and form partnerships which will enable them to deliver the required services,” said Paul Joyner, managing director, SBS.
The RHI opened for residential installs in April.
“However, there’s an ongoing problem in terms of training and successful RHI applications,” claimed Joyner. “Of the 1,080 domestic RHI applications that were received in the first month of its introduction to the domestic sector, DECC has reported that 4% failed and 5% were rejected. This indicates that there is an on-going challenge to over-come in terms of gaining the skills and knowledge required for an approved application.
“Fortunately, the problems around training and successful applications can be solved,” he added.
Joyner also revealed that the company’s partners PPL Training had seen a 68% increase in solar thermal courses from the last quarter of 2013 to the first of 2014.
Data from the department of energy and climate change showed that the domestic RHI made a steady start with more than a thousand applications in the first three weeks alone.
