THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC, and in particular Article 5(4) in conjunction with AnnexVII thereto,
Whereas:
(1)
Directive 2009/28/EC sets out an EU target of 20 % renewable energy in gross final consumption of energy to be achieved by 2020 and contains national targets for renewable energy for each Member State, and an indicative minimum trajectory.
(2)
An appropriate energy statistics methodology is necessary to measure the consumption of renewable energy.
(3)
Annex VII to Directive 2009/28/EC sets out the rules for accounting of energy from heat pumps and requires the Commission to establish guidelines for Member States to estimate the necessary parameters, taking into consideration differences in climatic conditions, especially very cold climates.
(4)
The method to account renewable energy from heat pumps should build on best available science, be as accurate as possible, while not being overly complicated and costly to implement.
(5)
Only ambient air, i.e. outdoor air, can be the source of energy for an air-sourced heat pump. However, if the energy source is a mixture of waste energy and ambient energy (e.g. exhaust air from air-circulation units), the method for calculating the renewable energy supplied should reflect this.
(6)
Reversible heat pumps in warmer climates are often installed with the purpose of cooling the indoor environment, although they can also be used to provide heating during the winter. Such heat pumps might also be installed in parallel to an existing heating system. In such situations, the installed capacity reflects the cooling demand rather than the supplied heating. As the installed capacity is used as an indicator of heating demand in these guidelines, it implies that the statistics of installed capacity will over-estimate the amount of heating supplied. This needs appropriate adjustment.
(7)
These guidelines allow Member States to account for and calculate the renewable energy supplied from heat pump technologies. In particular they set out how Member States shall estimate the two parameters Qusable and the ‘seasonal performance factor’ (SPF), taking into consideration differences in climatic conditions, especially very cold climates.
(8)
It is appropriate to allow Member States to undertake their own calculations and surveys in order to improve the accuracy of national statistics beyond what is feasible with the methodology set out in this Decision,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: