Eligibility

To take part in the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, you must demonstrate your installation meets the following eligibility requirements:

  • You must be the owner of the installation, or where there are several owners you must have permission to act for the other owners.
  • The plant must be an eligible renewable heat technology type and size.

The following installations must have been completed and the plant first commissioned on or after 15 July 2009 to be eligible:

  • Solid biomass
  • Biogas below 200kWth
  • Ground and water source heat pumps
  • Geothermal
  • Solar collectors
  • Energy from waste.

The following installations must have been first commissioned on or after 4 December 2013 to be eligible:

  • Air to water heat pumps
  • Biogas 200Wth and above
  • CHP system using biomass, biogas or waste.

Eligibility checklist

  • No public grants can be used to fund any part of the installation unless it has been repaid (see our Guidance for the exceptions to this).
  • The plant must have been new at the time of installation, including specific ‘integral equipment’ (see our Guidance Volume 1, Chapter 4).
  • Plants using solid biomass, solar collectors or heat pumps that are less than or equal to 45kWth must have  certification or its equivalent.
  • The plant uses either liquid or steam as the heat delivery medium.
  • The plant must provide heat for at least one eligible heat use (see Guidance Volume 1, Chapter 5).
  • The installation must not solely provide heating to single domestic premises (see information on the Domestic RHI).
  • The metering arrangements must include the right types of meters, correctly calibrated and placed in correct locations. Every installation will require at least one MID Class  heat meter (see Easy Guide to Metering).
  • The specific criteria, relevant to the technology applied for are met (see Guidance Volume 1, Chapter 5).
  • Biomass boilers must meet air quality requirements for all applications submitted on or after 24 September 2013.

This checklist provides an overview of the requirements. For more detail, see the Easy Guide to Eligibility and Guidance Volume 1, Chapter 4.

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