A review of Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) tariffs is due to be presented to the Department for the Economy (DfE) shortly.

“Independent consultants are finalising the report which will be presented to the department in the coming weeks,” a DfE spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal.

It follows an inquiry by a committee of MPs in June 2019 which concluded that the latest cuts to RHI tariffs by DfE were “far too low” and resulted in “a raw deal” for scheme participants. The latest cuts, which passed through Westminster in March 2019, reduced annual payments for a standard 99kW boiler from around £13,000 to £2,000.

“Should a change to the tariffs be recommended [in the upcoming review], the department will begin the process towards legislating for this as soon as possible,” the DfE spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, a legal challenge over cuts to RHI tariffs which was due before the High Court in Belfast this week has been delayed.

The case has been put back several times since proceedings were initiated in March 2019 by Ballymoney poultry producer Tom Forgrave on behalf of the Renewable Heat Association for NI (RHANI).

The latest adjournment is to allow the case to be heard once three separate reports on RHI are made public. These are the imminent tariff review, the final report from the RHI public inquiry and a report by an independent consultant on cases of financial hardship among scheme participants.

“We view the rescheduling of the judicial review of the 2019 legislation as a very positive development,” RHANI executive chair Andrew Trimble said.

“All of them (the upcoming reports) are going to be material to prove that the department got their numbers wrong,” he maintained.

Poultry producers delay investing in LPG heaters

Poultry producers in NI are holding off investing in new liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) heaters until the outcome of various reviews and legal challenges to RHI tariffs becomes clear.

Cuts to RHI tariffs, coupled with recent increases in wood pellet prices, have led local poultry producers to make more use of LPG for heating sheds in recent months.

Most poultry units already had LPG heaters as a backup in the event of a breakdown in biomass (wood pellet) heating systems.

In modern houses, this typically involved LPG boilers which worked on hot water heating systems, similar to biomass boilers. Older poultry sheds usually had gas brooders which burned and produced heat within the house.

However, reports from local installers indicate that there has been a sharp increase in inquiries about new LPG technologies during 2019.

The new heaters burn within the shed, but unlike traditional gas brooders, they do not affect carbon dioxide or water vapour levels in the house as there is an air inlet and outlet which passes through the gable wall of the shed.

The new LPG heaters are independent of the biomass hot water system and tend to be more efficient and have lower maintenance costs than LPG boilers.

Court case

“I have given lots of quotes but have not had that many sales. Fitting a poultry shed could cost up to £13,000 so most farmers are holding off to see how the RHI court case goes,” one local installer said.

Back in June 2019, Moy Park indicated that 80% of its growers who have biomass boilers could switch to fossil fuel heating by the end of the year.

Moy Park bulk-buys LPG for its growers at a discounted rate. On enquiry, a spokesperson from the poultry processor said that data on LPG usage should be available in early 2020.

Read more

Moy Park expects switch to gas heating

RHI cuts pass through Westminister