Certification

This report presents the efforts of South and South-East Asian countries in adopting and developing solar water heater product standards, accredited test laboratories and certification bodies and accredited planners/installers.

This is a presentation delivered by Mr. Noureddine Ketari from the Tunisian Institute Aptitudes during the Regional Workshop on Standardization and Certification of Solar Water Heaters organized by the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) in Tunisia.

This is the presentation of Mr. Henry Zapata from the Colombian Government during the UNEP (United National Environment Programme) Regional Workshop jointly held with OLADE (the Latin American Energy Organization) in Chile (June 2011) about the UN-funded project Solar Water Heating Transformation and Strengthening Initiative.

After publishing the Memorandum “Minimum Requirements for Installation of Solar Water Heating Systems in Field” in September 2011, India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy issued a revised version of the guidelines on 25 November 2011. The Solar Thermal Federation of India (STFI) has successfully intervened against certain of its requirements. The photo shows the tank manufacturing at Indian company Anu Solar.
Photo: Anu Solar

Just two years after the first solar water heaters received the Energy Star Label, they may loose it again. Right now, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is revising the label's Water Heater Specification. It has found that solar water heaters are not in line with the principle of the Energy Star label, because they do not pay off quickly enough. The solar thermal industry worries that loosing the label would become a serious drawback for the reputation of solar water heaters in the US. The final draft of the specification is expected in January and the final version is going to be published by February.
Source: EPA

Since Eileen Prado has become Executive Director of the Solar Rating & Certification Corporation SRCC in summer 2010, the average time for the testing and certification process has been cut in half. Although there are new programmes coming up next year, Prado is confident that certification periods can be reduced further.
Photo: SRCC

This document comprises training material developed in the framework of the SDHtake-off project with the support of Intelligent Energy Europe Programme. It has been designed as a “pool” of information to be used by all training organizations. It gives a broad overview of the solar thermal technologies employed for district heating, their characteristics as well as the legislative and technical requirements that are applicable in the EU.

Owing to the significant potential that the country is offering, New Zealand’s Solar Industry association tries to promote the use of solar technologies in different sectors. The presentation comprises an outline of the available solar technologies – passive, photovoltaic and solar thermal – and gives a more in-depth description of the latter given its multiple advantages and spread within the country.

This document focuses on new solar thermal test capabilities used in the certification of solar thermal collectors. The Florida Energy Systems Consortium (FESC) created this document to help explain how their certification systems works and what the benefit will be to the solar thermal market.

During the meeting in Paris in October 2011, the Solar Keymark Network has accepted an extension of the Solar Keymark Scheme Rules. In the future, Solar Keymark will be available for both solar water heater stores and concentrating solar collectors. At the same meeting, the Solar Keymark Network has approved the new Annual Collector Energy Output Calculation Tool as a standard measuring tool for all Solar Keymark certified collectors. The energy output calculated with it can from now on be found on all Solar Keymark data sheets.
Photo: Henry Rosik