Scottish Renewables has said that thousands of housing association tenants will soon be able to benefit from affordable, green heat.

The announcement comes after a number of organisations, co-ordinated by Scottish Renewables, asked the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change to allow social landlords to claim under the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) last year.

The move was supported by WWF, Energy Action Scotland and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations to name a few. Following its successful campaign, the scheme was then implemented on 9 April.

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Stephanie Clark, Policy Manager at Scottish Renewables, said: "The domestic Renewable Heat Incentive will change how we keep warm forever, and its introduction should be a cause for celebration for everyone who cares about our environment and the eradication of fuel poverty.

"A quarter of all homes in Scotland are classes as social housing, so Scotland's success in persuading the UK Government to include social landlords in the scheme means thousands of tenants on low incomes can now benefit from the affordable heat provided by renewables.

"Scotland has ambitious aspirations for renewable heat, and the domestic RHI gives us a welcome boost towards achieving them."

The Renewable Heat Incentive, which opened to industry, businesses and public sector organisations in November 2011, now allows homeowners with a biomass, heat pump or solar thermal system to claim money back from the government for the heat they generate, in a similar way as those with solar PV panels do under the Feed-in Tariff scheme.

(JP/IT)