Homeowners wanting to install solar panels can no longer receive Scottish Government funding without forking out to upgrade their property’s heating system.
Green Carbon Zero Buildings Minister Patrick Harvie is bringing forward a strategy to clean up how homes in Scotland are heated – with 13% of the country’s emissions coming from the sector.
Mr Harvie is encouraging homeowners to replace traditional fossil fuel gas boilers with more sustainable heating measures such as heat pumps, which are good for the environment when powered by renewable electricity.
But it has now been revealed that funding for solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery storage systems, in the form of grants and loans, will only be made available if homeowners also pay out for a renewable heating system.
Mr Harvie said there had been a “substantial increase in the number of applications received” for solar PV and batteries, “the majority of which are not installed alongside a zero emissions heating system and therefore do not contribute directly to decarbonisation of heat in homes”.
He warned that there is a need to be “focusing finite public funding in the ways which best support” the strategy to decarbonise homes, adding that “funding is being targeted at measures which will have the biggest impact on reducing emissions from heating homes”.
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Under the Home Energy Scotland scheme, people can obtain grant funding of £1,250 to install solar PV or battery energy systems, with an additional £4,760 available as an interest free loan.
In the 2022/23 financial year, statistics show that 1,464 solar PV devices were installed with full funding from the Scottish Government’s Home Energy Scotland grant and loan scheme, with interest-free loans worth £7,249,076 and grants worth just £3,750 paid out.
A total of 408 solar PV devices, with loans totalling £1,201,327 were also paid in part by the Scottish Government scheme.
Mr Harvie has confirmed that now “this funding is available where these measures are installed alongside a renewable heating system”.
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He added that when a zero direct emissions heating system is installed such as a heat pump, “a solar PV system and battery storage can be used to generate and store some of the electricity required to run the system – reducing electricity demand and the running costs for the homeowner”.
Mr Harvie said: “A solar PV system and battery storage system would not support a household reducing demand for gas if it is installed in a home heated by a gas boiler.
“Solar PV and energy storage can reduce overall energy bills for consumers with other forms of heating such as oil and gas but they do not specifically contribute to reducing the energy required to heat homes.”
He added: “Recently we have seen a substantial increase in the number of applications received to the scheme.
"Much of this rise has been driven by a surge in applications for solar PV and energy storage systems, the majority of which are not installed alongside a zero emissions heating system and therefore do not contribute directly to decarbonisation of heat in homes.
“So we have reviewed funding to ensure that we are focusing finite public funding in the ways which best support the heat in buildings strategy aims.
“Solar PV and energy storage systems will continue to be funded through the scheme, but only where installed alongside a certified renewable heating measure, such as a heat pump, or where there is already one in place.
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“As such, funding is being targeted at measures which will have the biggest impact on reducing emissions from heating homes.”
Scottish Conservative MSP, Liam Kerr, said: “Cutting funding for solar power flies in the face of Patrick Harvie’s rhetoric on increasing the use of renewable sources of energy in Scotland
“Serious questions must be answered by the Green minister as to why such a crucial change to this scheme was carried out without any consultation and announced without any fanfare."
He added: “It is little wonder that Patrick Harvie failed to be upfront about this.
"At a time when he’s about to stop people from selling their homes for failing to replace their gas boilers, he’s swinging the axe on solar power schemes.
“Yet again, his rhetoric simply doesn’t meet the reality and homeowners are paying the price for his failing policies.”
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