December was another record month under the Domestic RHI. New installations under the scheme have increased every month since it started in April, with December being the 8th increase in a row. December’s installation figures have dwarfed earlier months however. At 2,210 applications for new installations, December’s applications represent close to a third of the total new installations under the Domestic RHI (6,633). Each month of the scheme so far has set another record but December’s installations are up 84.94% on the previous record month of November.
Installation growth was led by biomass, which now accounts for 56% of new installations under the Domestic RHI. Biomass added 1,730 new installations in December and accounted for 78% of all new applications under the scheme last month. Biomass has shown strong growth since the launch of the scheme and has been the most popular technology but December’s numbers have dwarfed all previous growth. December’s installations account for 46.88% of the total new applications for biomass since the scheme came into effect and are almost 3 times the previous record month for new biomass applications.
December’s accelerated growth for biomass could well be caused by a rush to get applications submitted before the tariff drop for biomass on January 1, 2015. Whatever the cause, it was certainly an impressive end to 2014 for domestic biomass and for new installations under the Domestic RHI.
For more details see our latest Domestic Renewable Heat Update.
