Thread by @janrosenow

And here it is! The long awaited UK Heat and Buildings Strategy. 202 pages long plus annexes. What’s in it? The good, the bad and the ugly.

@beisgovuk

THREAD

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

1) Banning fossil fuel heating by 2035: The document is not entirely clear what is being planned. It talks about setting an 'ambition' but it remains unclear whether this means setting an outright ban of installing new fossil fuel heating systems.

2) The document also talks about the 'aim' to phase out new natural gas boilers by 2035 and highlights the potential for further policy. Further detail needs to be seen before we can be confident that 2035 is a hard regulatory stop.

3) New Boiler Upgrade Scheme will provide £5k for air source heat pumps and £6k for ground source heat pumps. This is significantly less generous than the current Renewable Heat Incentive but has the advantage of being paid upfront.

4) The total amount of funding for 3 years is £450m. That's £150m per year and equates to about 30,000 heat pumps supported per year. That's about the same as current installation levels. With the RHI coming to an end it is difficult to see how it would boost the market.

5) There seems to be no differentiation between low & higher income customers. For many low income households a £5k grant will not be sufficient. Would be good to see more targeted support for low income households as we @RegAssistProj pointed out here. raponline.org/wp-content/upl…

6) Rebalancing levies to make heat pumps cheaper to run: The document correctly states that 'current pricing of electricity and gas does not incentivise consumers
to make green choices, such as switching from gas boilers to electric heat pumps'.

7) Government will look at options to shift or rebalance energy levies and obligations away from electricity to gas over this decade. A decision will be made in 2022 following a call for evidence. This is a much needed step but lack of detail at this point how far it goes.

8) There is another regulatory element in this strategy that follows the approach of many other European countries in banning the installation of new oil and LPG boilers off the gas grid. This will already happen in 5 years.

9) What is missing is a major step forward for energy efficiency. The document repeats previous commitments but we still don't have a properly funded energy efficiency programme for the able-to-pay market. It's been like this for almost a decade now.

10) Hydrogen: The document summarises existing research initiatives and says by 2026 (after this parliament) government will make a strategic decision on its viability.

11) Hydrogen ready boilers are mentioned and government will consult on this. But strategy says it aims 'that by 2035, hydrogen-ready boilers are not installed in areas that do not and will not have access to a supply of low-carbon hydrogen in the future'.

12) So what do we make of the strategy overall?

😀 Good: End-date for installing fossil heating (if confirmed through regulation)

😀 Good: Reform of electricity levies

😐 Not so good: Modest levels heat pump funding

☹️ Bad: Still no properly-funded energy efficiency programme

13) And a big thanks for the hard-working civil servants in @beisgovuk who have put this together under immense political pressure. It's not perfect but a big step forward.