How many renewable heating systems it estimates have been installed in homes in the Highlands and Islands region in each of the last five y…

The Energy Saving Trust maintains the Renewable Heat Database for the Scottish Government. The following table presents figures for the number of renewable heat installations in homes in the Highlands and Islands over the past five years using Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) data.
Table 1: Number of annual domestic renewable heat installations by technology class and local authority for the Highlands and Islands (2017-2021).


Local authority

Technology class
Year
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Argyll & Bute


Biomass
11
5
4
2
3
Heat pump
110
120
169
529
646
Solar thermal
7
1
2
0
1
Total
128
126
175
531
650
Eilean Siar

Biomass
0
0
0
1
0
Heat pump
96
154
217
225
313
Solar thermal
7
3
1
0
5
Total
103
157
218
226
318
Highland


Biomass
42
22
17
17
14
Heat pump
214
397
432
436
692
Solar thermal
33
31
32
22
46
Total
289
450
481
475
752
Moray


Biomass
8
4
6
6
3
Heat pump
72
52
68
65
142
Solar thermal
10
14
18
12
14
Total
90
70
92
83
159
Orkney Islands


Biomass
0
3
1
2
0
Heat pump
115
83
143
96
123
Solar thermal
4
7
22
17
19
Total
119
93
166
115
142
Shetland Islands


Biomass
0
0
0
0
0
Heat pump
61
68
77
42
93
Solar thermal
2
0
0
0
0
Total
63
68
77
42
93
Total
Biomass
61
34
28
28
20
Heat pump
668
874
1,106
1,393
2,009
Solar thermal
63
56
75
51
85
Total
792
964
1,209
1,472
2,114

? Source: Energy Saving Trust (10 January 2023) based on MCS data.
The figures in the table above come with the following caveats:MCS certification is not a mandatory requirement, so MCS data does not capture all small-scale renewable energy installations in Scotland. However, as MCS is often a route to government incentives, it is likely to represent a significant proportion of deployment.Most installations registered with MCS are in the retrofit market. However, MCS may capture some new-build installations if contractors have chosen to register their installations with MCS.The number of installations above may include a small number of non-domestic installations which could not be cross-referenced against non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) data. This is unlikely to significantly impact the numbers as MCS data is skewed towards domestic installations.
We know that meeting our interim climate change targets will need over 1 million homes across Scotland to convert to zero emissions heat by 2030. This is not split by region in order to allow a flexible approach that can meet our targets as efficiently as possible. In the meantime, we are providing additional support to rural and island communities to reflect the higher costs of installation.