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Home > Press Office > Press Release
RHPP Phase Two - Communities Competition
24/07/2012
The National Energy Foundation (NEF) is pleased to announce that the £8m Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme Phase Two - Communities competition has been launched by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The £8m funding scheme focuses on privately owned homes and is centred on off-gas community based groups in England, Scotland and Wales. Funding will be available for development of the project and towards installation of the technologies themselves and DECC hopes to support around 50 projects this year. The scheme is being managed by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) and interested groups can apply on-line.
Communities competition
The £8m communities’ competition enables community groups to apply for funding that enable and encourage the adoption and installation of low/zero carbon renewable energy heating technologies; including solar thermal hot water systems, heat pumps (air to water and/or ground source or water source) and biomass (pellets, wood-chip and logs) boiler systems.
The central element of the communities’ scheme is to enable community based buying networks that have a detailed understanding of the needs of the local community to benefit from bulk purchasing discount agreements.
In preparation for the launch of this scheme the National Energy Foundation (NEF) has secured agreements from several reputable manufacturers and installers and we will be pleased to work with community groups in order to unlock these savings to the community.
In launching RHPP2 alongside Greg Barker, Dr Tim Lunel CEO of the National Energy Foundation said: "It is great news that the Minister recognises communities as 'the most powerful change agents' in tackling carbon emissions. NEF sees communities as key players to work with since, in line with the aims of RHPP2, they naturally integrate energy efficiency and demand reduction when they help their residents install renewable heat.
This RHPP programme is for those communities who have experience and track record in delivery, though not neccessarily limited to the energy area. NEF is already working with several of these communities and we would welcome approaches from communities who have the appetite to be involved in this innovative programme. Persuading DECC to run this programme with an innovative co-development phase where communities and installers can come together to develop programmes collaboratively will we believe become the blue-print for running future programmes."
Gabby Mallett, Head of NEF's Green Deal & Communities team, said: "The recent Local Energy Assessment Fund (LEAF) and NEF's own Communities Generation Fund (CGF) – established in partnership with Finance South East (FSE) group - continues to deliver significant benefits to many community groups across the UK and NI. The RHPP Phase 2 Communities scheme will ensure that this momentum is maintained by enabling community groups to install low/zero carbon (renewable energy) heating solutions both efficiently and cost effectively".
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