Nailsea School in North Somerset is now claiming £15,000+ per year from the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), seven years after its biomass boiler was installed and almost five years after the RHI scheme was launched. The news is promising for many other schools in the UK that had biomass boilers installed before the RHI was launched in 2011 but didn’t think they were still eligible for payments.

Nailsea School decided to look more closely at how they could claim the RHI after long-term Fuel Supplier Forest Fuels revealed it could be receiving more income for the heat it generates than the cost of buying the fuel itself.

Chris Perry, Operations Manager at Nailsea School, said: “When Forest Fuels suggested that we apply for the RHI we considered it very carefully, did our own independent research, and decided that it was an opportunity that we really could not pass up.”

“With such a complex application process though, we decided that it would be too difficult to complete successfully on our own, so we got Forest Fuels’ RHI specialist Gill Alker onboard.  It’s something that I’d urge other schools in the same situation as us to do. The £15,000+ we will receive each year from the RHI reduces our running costs greatly, which can be re-invested back into additional facilities and resources to benefit our students.”

Nailsea School was an early adopter of biomass, having its boiler installed in August 2009 – long before the Renewable Heat Incentive came into force. As a result, when the RHI came in, accessing payments was more complicated than for newly installed schemes.

“A whole host of schools in the UK are missing out on RHI payments that are rightly theirs,” said Gill Alker, Forest Fuels RHI expert. “Any school that had its biomass boiler installed after July 2009 is eligible, even if they received a grant or Building Schools for the Future funding, but it’s essential that they act now to make the most of the opportunity, as it can be a lengthy registration process.”

How Nailsea School claimed the RHI
Forest Fuels’ specialists began by carrying out a series of checks to assess Nailsea School’s suitability for the RHI. Working in partnership with the school, Forest Fuels gathered together all of the relevant documentation, collated evidence of boiler nameplates and configurations, and carried out detailed checks into the design of pipework.

Knowing how the RHI system works is of critical importance, so Forest Fuels experts also verified the boiler’s meter compliance, gathered heat-loss assessment reports from component manufacturers and chased up any missing information. One of the most important aspects of the work was collecting specific data and ensuring that forms were filled in correctly to maximise the chance of success and make the process and quick and smooth as possible.

To read the full case study of how Nailsea School successfully claimed RHI payments, visit: http://goo.gl/13uNYt