The UK's trade and industry secretary, Alistair Darling has announced that grants to help climate-conscious householders install microgeneration technologies will be available again later in May.
The Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) has already allocated GBP6.8 million in grants to householders and, following the addition of an extra GBP6 million in the UK budget, applications for the remaining GBP11.9 million will be open from May 29, 2007.
Since it launched in April 2006 the LCBP has directly funded 2,175 installations on homes. This includes 242 mini-turbines, 313 solar photovoltaic projects and 1,467 solar thermal heating systems.
The grant scheme was put on hold in March while the application process was streamlined to make sure that it benefits the sector in the long term.
Key changes to the application criteria include the removal of the monthly cap and a new requirement to have planning permission before applying.
The changes are designed to overcome delays in the take-up of grants. Only half of the GBP6.8 million already allocated by March had been spent because of supply chain issues, planning consents not in place, delays in building schedules and applicants not ready to proceed. The Department for Trade and Industry will continue to monitor these areas.
In addition, the UK government is currently consulting on removing the need for planning permission for the majority of microgeneration installations.