Irish News
Irish News
A positive note amid turbulent times
THE RENEWABLE HEAT INCENTIVE ( RHI ) HAS BEEN SEEN AS THE CATALYST THAT BROKE UP THE NORTHERN IRELAND GOVERNMENT LAST MONTH
The RHI scheme , which is no longer accepting applications , has been open to much criticism writes Irish correspondent , Aine Faherty .
Initially the RHI , which offered a financial incentive for businesses and other non-domestic users , was an attempt by the Northern Ireland government to help increase heat generated from renewable sources such as biomass boilers , solar thermal and heat pumps .
The plan was that 4 % of heat would come from renewables by 2015 with a further target of 10 % by 2020 .
In February 2016 a whistle blower alleged the ‘ cash for ash ’ scheme was being abused and that at least one farmer would make £ 1m from heating an empty shed with one boiler over a 20- year period . One of the RHI ’ s serious flaws was that there was ‘ no upper limit on the amount of energy that would be paid for ’.
The impact on the oil industry “ We expect the impact to be a positive one ,” said Anthony Boyd e-marketing executive at ValueOils . com when asked about the impact of the above on the oil industry .
“ On the back of the RHI fall out many people could switch back to oil , particularly as it ’ s what they know .
“ As consumers increasingly search for the best value , any uncertainty or change in oil prices brings more traffic to online price comparison sites such as valueoils . com which sees over 60,000 visitors per month .
“ It ’ s important for all companies to have a strong web presence , although many oil businesses haven ’ t fully tapped into this market .
“ There are certainly turbulent times ahead in 2017 – Brexit remains a concern to the industry along with the uncertainty around oil price volatility and the value of the British pound . We could even see customers revert to ordering smaller quantities of oil again as they did in 2010 when an order for 300 litres was common …..” www . valueoils . com
Regional oil-fired heating events
OFTEC Ireland recently opened a new training centre , offering the OFTEC suite of oil courses , at the Northern Regional College ( NRC ) in Ballymena .
At a special open evening ADEY , Firebird , Grant Engineering , Mi Flues , Kingspan Titan and Warmflow were on hand to discuss oil-fired heating technology with technicians and college staff .
“ With Ballymena offering easy access to technicians in the north east of the Province , this new centre is very welcome ,” said OFTEC Ireland manager , David Blevings .
“ For those seeking training or reassessment outside the Belfast area , this fully-equipped centre provides the ideal facility in which to upgrade their skills and to demonstrate their OFTEC-registered competence to consumers .”
To find out more about courses at NRC , contact Brian George on 02825 636271
Minister to address Belfast conference
The Northern Ireland minister for infrastructure , Chris Hazzard MLA , will give the keynote speech at the Freight Transport Association ’ s Transport Manager conference which takes place at the Culloden Hotel in Cultra on Wednesday 15th March .
“ We ’ re delighted that the minister is able to join us and look forward to hearing what he has to say ,” said Seamus Leheny , FTA policy and membership manager for Northern Ireland who will be chairing the conference . “ The programme will focus on the most pressing industry issues for transport managers including Brexit and logistics ; avoiding incidents on the highway ; industry accreditation and earned recognition ; and enhancing performance and increasing efficiency .
Other speakers include Jeremy Logan ,
Abbey Scott of Kingspan Titan speaks with attendees at the Ballymena open evening
or email brian . george @ nrc . ac . uk .
Further regional events will be held at training centres throughout Ireland in 2017 – check dates at www . oftec . co . uk .
head of roadside enforcement at the Driver & Vehicle Agency ( DVA ), who will discuss current enforcement and future plans and developments . Pat Delaney , the DVA ’ s director of operations , will talk about commercial vehicle testing in Northern Ireland , including pass & fail statistics , the reasons for failures and regional variations in vehicle pass rates ; advice to transport managers when putting vehicles in for testing ; and plans for new test centres across Northern Ireland .
Inspector Rosie Leech from the Police Service of Northern Ireland will cover the subject of insecure loads , the use of mobile phones while driving , breakdowns on the strategic road network and new alcohol limits for vocational drivers . www . fta . co . uk / events Fuel Oil News | February 2017 19