Inspections of all Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) accredited biomass boilers will be completed by the end of March 2021, a Department for the Economy (DfE) spokesperson has confirmed.

“Over 1,000 sites have been subject to an investigation as part of the Department’s 100% programme of inspections. This is approaching 90% of all sites accredited to the non-domestic RHI scheme,” a DfE spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal.

According to DfE, 30 installations have been removed from the RHI scheme as a result of inspections.

However, a more common issue surrounds RHI payments being temporarily suspended to scheme participants who are having additional checks carried out on issues that arose during inspections.

“Under the RHI regulations, periodic payments may be placed on hold for a range of reasons. The number of participants with payments on hold varies from time to time,” the DfE spokesperson said.

RHI boiler owners remain fiercely critical of the inspection process. They take issue with the volume of records needed, and the often lengthy follow-up process after inspections, which leads to delays in RHI payments.