EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1.CONTEXT OF THE DELEGATED ACT
Directive (EU) 2018/2001 on the promotion of energy from renewable sources (REDII) obliges Member States to endeavour to increase the share of renewable energy in the heating and cooling sector by an indicative 1.3 percentage points annually. REDII also sets an indicative one percentage point annual increase target for district heating and cooling. In addition, the Directive requires that renewable energy in heating and cooling is counted when calculating the share of renewable energy in gross final consumption of energy for the purposes of fulfilling the EU 32% renewable energy target for 2030.
To fulfil the above mentioned heating and cooling and district heating and cooling targets, and to be able to provide national renewable energy contributions to the EU overall renewable target also in the cooling sector, Member States must be able to calculate the quantity and share of renewable energy used for cooling. A harmonised methodology is needed to ensure that renewable energy used in cooling is calculated in the same way by each Member State and monitoring, reporting and verification at EU level, including via European statistics, is possible.
While the RED II outlines the methodology to calculate the shares of renewable energy in electricity, transport and heating, it does not provide a methodology on how to take into account renewable cooling. The absence of such methodology prevents Member States from using renewable cooling for fulfilling their heating and cooling and district heating and cooling targets, and reduces their opportunities to contribute to the overall EU renewable target. Given the growing demand for cooling and its significant share in several Member States’ final energy consumption, a methodology is necessary to ensure that the cooling sector contributes to the EU renewable target and is integrated fully in the EU renewable energy framework.
Article 7(3), fifth subparagraph of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 mandates the Commission to adopt a delegated act by 31 December 2021 in order to establish a methodology for calculating the quantity of renewable energy used for individual cooling and district cooling and to amend Annex VII. That methodology shall include minimum seasonal performance factors for heat pumps operating in reverse mode.
The methodology proposed in this delegated regulation explains how renewable energy must be accounted when used for cooling, including district cooling. This will ensure that all Member States calculate their share of renewable energy for cooling in a harmonised way.
2.CONSULTATIONS PRIOR TO THE ADOPTION OF THE ACT
A study from external contractors lead by TU-Wien provided technical support for the development of the calculation methodology and analysed possible options for the definition and accounting of renewable energy for cooling. It also provided an in-depth overview of technologies and cooling consumption, and performed modelling based impact assessment to establish the impacts on overall renewable energy shares and target achievement in the heating and cooling sector. Economic and environmental impacts have also been modelled and analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. In addition, JRC provided scientific support throughout the analytical process, and a dedicated JRC study was used to further define boundaries between cooling and waste heat and cold.
During the development of the methodology, several consultations were held with Member States and other stakeholders on several occasions:
·Concerted Action meeting of the Renewable Energy Directive (CA RED) on 27 May 2020 with Member States;
·EUROSTAT consultation held on 14 May 2020 with Member States;
·Concerted Action meeting of the Energy Efficiency Directive (CA EED) on 14 October 2020 with Member States;
·Concerted Action meeting of the Renewable Energy Directive (CA RED) on 28 October 2020 with Member States;
·EUSurvey consultation from 23 October to 16 November 2020;
·Public stakeholder workshops with Member States, cooling industry, academia, experts, and other stakeholders on 26 November 2020 and 15 July 2021.
At these events, the core concepts of the proposed renewable cooling definition and calculation methodology were presented to participants. The participants commented both orally at the meetings and in writing after each meeting. Follow-up meetings with key stakeholders and Member States took place throughout the elaboration process. This step-by-step process gradually narrowed down and fine-tuned the proposed options in order to select a final methodology that is accurate, practical and creates the correct incentives.
3.LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE DELEGATED ACT
(1)Legal basis
The proposed regulation is a delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 7(3) 5th subparagraph of Directive (EU) 2018/2001, which empowers the Commission to establish a methodology for calculating the quantity of renewable energy used for cooling and district cooling.
(2)Subsidiarity
Heating and cooling constitute the biggest energy end-use sector, responsible for about 50% of the final energy consumption in the European Union. Of this, cooling constitutes currently about 4%, but it is growing everywhere in Europe. In Member States with a warm climate, cooling can be as important as heating in terms of quantity and share of energy consumption. The absence of a calculation methodology prevents Member States from accounting renewables in cooling for their renewable targets and contributions, and hinders the development of sustainable cooling in Europe. To ensure the same accounting rules across all Member States, Directive (EU) 2018/2001 mandates the Commission to establish a methodology at Union level.
EU action in establishing a common methodology for calculating the share of renewable energy in cooling is of high value-added, because it ensures that such a share is calculated in a harmonised manner in all Member States. A common methodology is a pre-condition to measure Member States’ renewable energy contribution, target achievement and compliance with the REDII provisions in the same way and ensure equal opportunities for Member States to fulfil their obligations under REDII regardless of their climate conditions. The methodology is also necessary to allow for a reliable comparison of data and a fair assessment of Member States’ efforts to promote the use of renewable energy for cooling.
(3)Proportionality
This proposal does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the aim of establishing harmonised accounting rules for renewable energy used for cooling. This proposal is therefore proportional to the intended outcome.
(a)Choice of instrument
The proposed form of action is a directly applicable delegated regulation amending Annex VII to Directive 2018/2001/EU to introduce a methodology for calculating the amount of renewable energy used in cooling, including district cooling. As the methodology should be used in the same way in all Member States, a directly applicable regulation is the most appropriate legal instrument.
(b)Budgetary implication
The proposal has no impact on the EU budget.
COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) …/...
of XXX
amending Annex VII of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 as regards a methodology for calculating the amount of renewable energy used for cooling and district cooling
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, and in particular Article 7(3), , fifth subparagraph thereof,
Whereas:
(1)Directive (EU) 2018/2001 establishes rules for Member States to calculate the share of renewable energy in the electricity, transport and heating sectors, but it lacks a methodology on how to account the share of renewable energy in cooling. A calculation methodology on renewable cooling is necessary to allow Member States to comply with their obligations in cooling in a similar way as they can fulfil their obligations on heating. Such a methodology is key to ensure a level playing field with heating and to provide equal opportunities for Member States, including those with high cooling shares in their final energy consumption.
(2)Annex VII of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 provides a methodology to calculate renewable energy from heat pumps used for heating, but does not regulate how to calculate renewable energy from heat pumps used for cooling. The lack of methodology in that Annex to calculate renewable energy from heat pumps used for cooling prevents the cooling sector from contributing to the Union’s overall renewable energy target laid down in Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 and makes it more difficult for Member States, especially those with a high cooling share in their energy consumption, to deliver the heating and cooling target and district heating and cooling targets under Articles 23 and 24 of that Directive, respectively.
(3)Therefore a methodology on renewable cooling, including district cooling, should be introduced in Annex VII to Directive (EU) 2018/2001. Such a methodology is necessary to ensure that the renewable energy share from cooling is calculated in the same harmonised way in all Member States and a reliable comparison of all cooling systems in terms of their capacity to use renewable energy for cooling is possible.
(4)The methodology should include minimum seasonal performance factors (SPF) for heat pumps operating in reverse mode in line with Article 7(3), sixth subparagraph of Directive (EU) 2018/2001. Since all active cooling systems can be considered as heat pumps working in reverse mode, which also can be called cooling mode, minimum seasonal performance factors should apply to all cooling systems. This is necessary because the way heat pumps work is that they extract and transfer heat from one location to another. In the case of cooling, heat pumps extract heat from a space or process and reject it to the environment (air, water or ground). Extraction of heat is the essence of cooling and the core function of a heat pump, and since this extraction goes against the natural flow of energy, which goes from hot to cold, such extraction requires energy input to the heat pump, also called a cooling generator.
(5)The mandatory inclusion of minimum seasonal performance factors in the methodology is due to the importance of energy efficiency to establish the presence and use of renewable energy by heat pumps. The renewable energy in the case of cooling is the renewable cold source, which can increase the efficiency of the cooling process, and makes the seasonal performance factor of cooling higher. High seasonal performance factors, while being an energy efficiency indicator, function at the same time as proxy for the presence and use of renewable cold source in cooling.
(6)In cooling, the cold source functions as a heat sink, as it absorbs the heat extracted and rejected by the heat pump outside the space or process that needs to be cooled. The quantity of renewable cooling depends on the efficiency of the cooling process, and is equivalent to the quantity of heat absorbed by the heat sink. This in practice is equivalent to the quantity of cooling capacity provided by the cold source.
(7)The cold source can be ambient energy or geothermal energy. Ambient energy is present in ambient air (formerly known as aerothermal) and ambient water (formerly known as hydrothermal), while geothermal energy comes from the ground under the surface of solid earth. Ambient and geothermal energy used for cooling by means of heat pumps and district cooling systems should be taken into account for the purposes of calculating the share of renewable energy in the gross final consumption of energy, provided that the final energy output significantly exceeds the primary energy input required to drive the heat pumps. This requirement, established in Article 7(3), third subparagraph of Directive (EU) 2018/2001, can be fulfilled with appropriately high seasonal performance factors as defined by the methodology.
(8)Given the variety of cooling solutions, it is necessary to define which cooling solutions should fall into the scope of the methodology and which should be excluded. Cooling by the natural flow of thermal energy without the intervention of a cooling device is passive cooling and should therefore be excluded from the scope of the calculation in accordance with Article 7(3), fourth subparagraph of Directive (EU) 2018/2001.
(9)Decreasing the need for cooling by building design, such as building insulation, green roof, vegetal wall, and shading or increased building mass, while valuable, can be considered as a passive cooling and should therefore not be included in the scope of the renewable cooling calculation.
(10)Ventilation (either natural or forced), which is the introduction of ambient air inside a space with the aim to ensure appropriate indoor air quality is considered passive cooling and should therefore not be included in the scope of the renewable calculation. This exclusion should be maintained even when ventilation leads to the introduction of cold ambient air and thus reduces the cooling supply in some periods of the year; however, this cooling is not the primary function and ventilation may also contribute to heating the air in the summer and thus to increase the cooling load. Notwithstanding, where ventilation air is used as a heat transport medium for cooling, the corresponding cooling supply, which can be supplied either by a cooling generator or by free cooling, should be considered active cooling. In situations where the ventilation airflow is increased above ventilation requirements for cooling purposes, the cooling supply due to this extra airflow should be part of the renewable cooling calculation.
(11)Comfort fan products include a fan and electric motor assembly. Comfort fans move air and provide summer comfort by increasing the air speed around the human body, which gives a thermal feeling of coolness. As opposed to ventilation, there is no introduction of ambient air in the case of comfort fans; comfort fans only move indoor air. Consequently, they are not cooling indoor air but heating it (all electricity consumed is ultimately released as heat in the room where the comfort fan is used). Comfort fans are not cooling solutions and should therefore fall outside the scope of the renewable cooling calculation.
(12)Cooling system energy input in means of transportation (such as cars, trucks, ships) is in general supplied by the transportation engine. The use of renewable energy in non-stationary cooling is part of the renewable transport target calculation pursuant to Article 7(1), point (c) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 and should therefore not come into the scope of the renewable cooling calculation.
(13)The temperature range of the cooling supply for which renewable cold sources can grow, and reduce or displace the energy use of a cooling generator lays between 0°C and 30°C. This temperature range is one of the parameters that should be used to screen potential cooling process sectors and applications to be included in the scope of the renewable cooling calculation.
(14)Process cooling with low and very low cooling supply temperature has little room to use renewable cold sources to any significant degree and is mostly operated with electrically driven refrigeration. The main way of making refrigeration equipment renewable is through their energy input. When electricity driven refrigeration equipment is renewable, it is already accounted for in the renewable electricity shares under Directive (EU) 2018/2001. The efficiency improvement potential is already covered by the EU ecodesign and labelling framework. Consequently, there would be no benefit of including refrigeration equipment in the scope of the renewable cooling calculation.
(15)As regards high temperature process cooling, any thermal power plant, combustion and other high temperature processes offer the possibility to recover waste heat. Incentivising the release of high temperature waste heat into the environment without heat recovery through renewable cooling would be against the “energy efficiency first” principle and environmental protection. In that perspective, the 30 °C temperature limit is not enough to distinguish those processes; indeed, in a steam power plant, condensation may occur at 30 °C or lower. The cooling system of the power plant may supply cooling at a temperature lower than 30 °C.
(16)To ensure that the scope is clearly set, the methodology should include a list of processes where the recovery or avoidance of waste heat should be prioritised instead of incentivising the use of cooling. Sectors where waste heat avoidance and recovery is promoted through Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council include power generation plants, including cogeneration, and processes producing hot fluids from combustion or from an exothermic chemical reaction. Additional processes where waste heat avoidance and recovery is important include cement, iron and steel manufacturing, wastewater treatment plants, information technology facilities (such as data centres), power transmission and distribution facilities, as well as cremation and transportation infrastructures, where cooling should not be promoted for mitigating waste heat resulting from these processes.
(17)A central parameter for the calculations of renewable energy from heat pump used for cooling is the seasonal performance factor calculated in primary energy, denoted as the SPFp. SPFp is a ratio expressing the efficiency of cooling systems during the cooling season. It is calculated by dividing the produced quantity of cooling with the energy input. Higher SPFp is better, because more cooling is produced for the same energy input.
(18)To calculate the quantity of renewable energy from cooling, it is necessary to define the share of the cooling supply that can be considered renewable. This share is denoted as sSPFp. The sSPFp is a function of a low and high SPFp threshold value. The methodology should set a low SPFp threshold value below which renewable energy from a cooling system is zero. The methodology also sets a high SPFp threshold value above which the entire cooling supply produced by a cooling system counts as renewable. A progressive calculation method allows calculating the linearly growing portion of the cooling supply that can be counted as renewable from cooling systems with SPFp values falling between the low and high SPFp thresholds.
(19)The methodology should ensure that, in accordance with Article 7(1), second subparagraph of Directive (EU) 2018/2001, gas, electricity, and hydrogen from renewable sources are considered only once for the purposes of calculating the share of gross final consumption of energy from renewable sources.
(20)To ensure stability and predictability from the application of the methodology for the cooling sector, the low and high threshold SPF values calculated in primary energy terms should be set using the default coefficient, also called primary energy factor as set in Directive 2012/27/EU.
(21)It is appropriate to distinguish between different approaches to calculating renewable cooling depending on the availability of standard values for the parameters needed in the calculation, such as standard seasonal performance factors or equivalent full load hours of operation.
(22)It is appropriate that the methodology allows the use of a simplified statistical approach based on standard values for installations smaller than 1.5 MW nominal capacity. Where standard values are not available, the methodology should make it possible to use measured data to allow cooling systems to benefit from the calculation methodology of renewable energy from cooling. The measurement approach should apply to cooling systems with a nominal capacity above 1.5 MW, for district cooling and for small systems using technologies where standard values are not available. Notwithstanding the availability of standard values, Member States may use measured data for all cooling systems.
(23)Member States should be allowed 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 Regulation.
(24)Annex VII to Directive (EU) 2018/2001 should therefore be amended accordingly,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Amendment
Annex VII to Directive (EU) 2018/2001 isreplaced by the Annex to this Regulation.
Article 2
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels,
For the Commission
The President
Ursula VON DER LEYEN
ANNEX
“ANNEX VII”
ACCOUNTING OF RENEWABLE ENERGY USED FOR HEATING AND COOLING
PART A: ACCOUNTING OF RENEWABLE ENERGY FROM HEAT PUMPS USED FOR HEATING
The amount of aerothermal, geothermal or hydrothermal energy captured by heat pumps to be considered to be energy from renewable sources for the purposes of this Directive, ERES, shall be calculated in accordance with the following formula:
ERES = Qusable * (1 – 1/SPF)
where
|
—
|
Qusable
|
=
|
the estimated total usable heat delivered by heat pumps fulfilling the criteria referred to in Article 7(4), implemented as follows: Only heat pumps for which SPF > 1,15 * 1/η shall be taken into account,
|
|
—
|
SPF
|
=
|
the estimated average seasonal performance factor for those heat pumps,
|
|
—
|
η
|
=
|
the ratio between total gross production of electricity and the primary energy consumption for the production of electricity and shall be calculated as an EU average based on Eurostat data.
|
PART B: ACCOUNTING OF RENEWABLE ENERGY USED FOR COOLING
1.Definitions
When calculating renewable energy used for cooling the following definitions shall apply:
(1)‘cooling’ means the extraction of heat from an enclosed or indoor space (comfort application) or from a process in order to reduce the space or process temperature to, or maintain it at, a specified temperature (set point),; for cooling systems, the extracted heat is rejected into and absorbed by the ambient air, ambient water or the ground, where the environment (air, ground, and water) provides a sink for the heat extracted and thus functions as a cold source.
(2)‘cooling system’ means an assembly of components consisting of a heat extraction system, one or several cooling devices and a heat rejection system, complemented in the case of active cooling with a cooling medium in the form of fluid that work together to generate a specified heat transfer and, thus, ensures a required temperature.
·(a) for space cooling, the cooling system can be either a free cooling system or a cooling system embedding a cooling generator, and for which cooling is one of the primary functions.
(1)(b)for process cooling, the cooling system is embedding a cooling generator, and for which cooling is one of the primary functions.
(3)‘free cooling’ means a cooling system using a natural cold source to extract heat from the space or process to be cooled via fluid(s) transportation with pump(s) and/or fan(s) and which does not require the use of a cooling generator.
(4)‘cooling generator’ means the part of a cooling system that generates a temperature difference allowing heat extraction from the space or process to be cooled, using a vapour compression cycle, a sorption cycle or another energy-driven thermodynamic cycle. It is used when the cold source is unavailable or insufficient.
(5)‘active cooling’ means the removal of heat from a space or process, for which an energy input is needed to meet the cooling demand, used when the natural flow of energy is unavailable or insufficient and can occur with or without a cooling generator.
(6)‘passive cooling’ means the removal of heat by the natural flow of energy through conduction, convection, radiation or mass transfer without the need for moving a cooling fluid to extract and reject heat or to generate a lower temperature with a cooling generator, including decreasing the need for cooling by building design features such as building insulation, green roof, vegetal wall, shading or increased building mass, by ventilation or by using comfort fans.
(7)‘ventilation’ means the natural or forced movement of air to introduce ambient air inside a space with the aim to ensure appropriate indoor air quality, including temperature.
(8)‘comfort fan’ means a product that includes a fan and electric motor assembly to move air and provide summer comfort by increasing the air speed around human body giving a thermal feeling of coolness.
(9) ‘renewable energy quantity for cooling’ means the cooling supply that has been generated with a specified energy efficiency expressed as a Seasonal Performance Factor calculated in primary energy.
(10)‘heat sink’ or ‘cold source’ means an external natural sink into which the heat extracted from the space or process is transferred; it can be ambient air, ambient water in the form of natural or artificial water bodies and geothermal formations beneath the surface of solid earth.
(11)‘heat extraction system’ means a device that removes heat from the space or process to be cooled, such as an evaporator in a vapour compression cycle .
(12) ‘cooling device’ means a device designed to perform active cooling.
(13)‘heat rejection system’ means the device where the final heat transfer from the cooling medium to the heat sink occurs, such as the air-to-refrigerant condenser in an air-cooled vapour compression cycle .
(14)‘energy input’ means the energy needed to transport the fluid (free cooling), or the energy needed to transport the fluid and to drive the cooling generator (active cooling with a cooling generator).
(15)‘district cooling’ means the distribution of thermal energy in the form of chilled liquids, from central or decentralised sources of production through a network to multiple buildings or sites, for the use of space or process cooling.
(16)‘primary seasonal performance factor’ means a metric of the primary energy conversion efficiency of the cooling system.
(17)‘equivalent full load hours’ means the number of hours a cooling system runs with full load to produce the amount of cooling that it actually produces during a year but at varying loads.
(18)‘Climate Degree Days’ means the climate values computed with a base of 18 °C used as input to determine equivalent full load hours.
2. Scope
1. When calculating the amount of renewable energy used for cooling, Member States shall count active cooling, including district cooling, regardless of whether it is free cooling or a cooling generator is used.
2. Member States shall not count:
a) passive cooling, although where ventilation air is used as a heat transport medium for cooling, the corresponding cooling supply, which can be supplied either by a cooling generator or by free cooling is part of renewable cooling calculation.
b) the following technologies or processes of cooling:
·cooling in means of transportation;
·cooling systems whose primary function is to produce or store perishable materials at specified temperatures (refrigeration and freezing);
·cooling systems with space or process cooling temperature set points lower than 2°C;
·cooling systems with space or process cooling temperature set points above 30°C;
·cooling of waste heat resulting from energy generation, industrial processes and the tertiary sector (waste heat).
c) energy used for cooling in power generation plants; cement, iron and steel manufacturing; wastewater treatment plants; information technology facilities (such as data centres); power transmission and distribution facilities; and transportation infrastructures.
Member States may exclude more categories of cooling systems from the renewable cooling energy calculation in order to preserve natural cold sources in specific geographic areas for environmental protection reasons. Examples are the protection of rivers or lakes from the risk of overheating.
3. Methodology for Accounting of Renewable Energy for INDIVIDUAL and District Cooling
Only cooling systems operating above the minimum efficiency requirement expressed as primary Seasonal Performance Factor (SPFp) in section 3.2, second paragraph shall be considered to produce renewable energy .
3.1.Renewable energy quantity for cooling
The renewable energy quantity for cooling (ERES-C) shall be calculated with the following formula:
where:
is the amount of heat released to the ambient air, ambient water or to the ground by the cooling system.
is the energy consumption of the cooling system, including energy consumption of the auxiliary systems for measured systems, such as district cooling.
is the cooling energy supplied by the cooling system.
is defined at cooling system level as the share of the cooling supply that can be considered as renewable according to the SPF requirements, expressed as a percentage. The SPF is established without accounting for distribution losses. For district cooling, this means that the SPF is established per cooling generator, or at free cooling system level. For cooling systems where standard SPF can apply, this means that the F(1) and F(2) coefficients according to Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/2281 are not used as correction factors.
The calculation steps needed for and are explained in Sections 3.2-3.4.
3.2.Calculation of the share of Seasonal Performance Factor that qualifies as renewable energy –
is the share of cooling supply that can be counted as renewable. The increases with increasing SPFp values. The SPFp is defined as described in Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/2281 and Commission Regulation (EU) No 206/2012, except that the default primary energy factor for electricity has been updated to 2.1 in Directive (EU) 2018/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Boundary conditions from the EN14511 standard shall be used.
The minimum efficiency requirement of the cooling system expressed in primary seasonal performance factor shall be at least [1.4] (SPFLOW). For to be 100% the minimum efficiency requirement of the cooling system shall be at least [9.5] (SPFHIGH). For all the other cooling systems the following calculation shall be applied:
sSPFp = %
is the efficiency of the cooling system expressed as primary seasonal performance factor.
is the minimum seasonal performance factor expressed in primary energy and based upon the efficiency of standard cooling systems (minimum eco-design requirements).
is the upper threshold for seasonal performance factor expressed in primary energy and based on best practices for free cooling used in district cooling.
3.3.Calculation of renewable energy quantity for cooling using standard and measured SPFp
Standard and measured SPF
Standardised SPF values are available for electric vapour compression cooling generators and combustion engine vapour compression cooling generator due to the Ecodesign requirements in Regulation (EU) No 206/2012 and (EU) 2016/2281. Values are available for these cooling generators up to 2 MW for comfort cooling and up to 1.5 MW for process cooling. Other technologies and capacity scales standard values are not available. As regards district cooling, standard values are not available but measurements are used and available; these allow to compute SPF values at least on a yearly basis.
To calculate the quantity of renewable cooling, standard SPF values may be used where available. Where standard values are not available or measurement is standard practice, measured SPF values shall be used, separated by cooling capacity thresholds. For cooling generators with a cooling capacity below 1.5 MW, standard SPF can be used, while measured SPF shall be used for district cooling, for cooling generators with cooling capacities higher than or equal to 1.5 MW and cooling generators for which standard values are not available.
In addition, for all cooling systems without standard SPF, which includes all free cooling solutions and heat activated cooling generators, a measured SPF shall be established in order to take advantage of the calculation methodology for as renewable cooling.
Definition of standard SPF values
SPF values are expressed in terms of primary energy efficiency calculated using primary energy factors following Regulation (EU) 2016/2281 to determine the space cooling efficiency for the different types of cooling generators. The primary energy factor in Regulation (EU) 2016/2281 shall be calculated as 1/η, where η is the average ratio of total gross production of electricity to the primary energy consumption for electricity production in the whole EU. With the amendment of the default primary energy factor for electricity, called coefficient in point (1) of the Annex to Directive (EU) 2018/2002, the primary energy factor of 2.5 in Regulation (EU) 2016/2281 shall be replaced by 2.1 when calculating the SPF values.
When primary energy carriers, such as heat or gas are used as energy input to drive the cooling generator, the default primary energy factor (1/η) is 1, reflecting the lack of energy transformation η=1.
The standard operating conditions and the other parameters necessary for the determination of the SPF are defined in Regulation (EU) 2016/2281 and Regulation (EU) 206/2012, depending on the cooling generator category. Boundary conditions are the ones defined in the EN14511 standard.
For reversible cooling generators (reversible heat pumps), which are excluded from the scope of Regulation (EU) 2016/2281 because their heating function is covered by Commission Regulation (EU) No 813/2013 with regard to Ecodesign requirements for space heaters and combination heaters, the same SPF calculation that is defined for similar non reversible cooling generators in Regulation (EU) 2016/2281 shall be used.
For instance, for electric vapour compression cooling generators, the SPFp shall be defined as follows (the index p is used to clarify that the SPF is defined in terms of primary energy):
- For space cooling:
-For process cooling:
Where:
- SEER and SEPR are seasonal performance factors (SEER stands for “Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio”, SEPR stands for “Seasonal Energy Performance Ratio”) in final energy defined according to Regulation (EU) 2016/2281 and Regulation (EU) 206/2012,
- η is the average ratio of total gross production of electricity to the primary energy consumption for electricity production in the EU (η = 0.475 and 1/η=2.1),
F(1) and F(2) are correction factors according to Regulation (EU) 2016/2281. These coefficients do not apply to process cooling in Regulation (EU) 2016/2281 as the SEPR final energy metrics is directly used. In absence of adapted values, the same values used for SEER conversion shall be used for the SEPR conversion.
SPF boundary conditions
For defining the SPF of the cooling generator, the SPF boundary conditions defined in Regulation (EU) 2281/2016 and in Regulation (EU) 206/2012 shall be used. In the case of water-to-air and water-to-water cooling generators, the energy input required to make the cold source available is included via the F(2) correction factor. The SPF boundary conditions are shown in Figure 1. These boundary conditions shall apply for all cooling systems, either free cooling systems or systems containing cooling generators.
These boundary conditions are similar to the ones for heat pumps (used in heating mode) in Commission Decision 2013/114/EU. The difference is that for heat pumps, the electricity consumption corresponding to auxiliary power consumption (thermostat-off mode, standby mode, off mode, crankcase heater) is not taken into account to evaluate the SPF. However, as in the case of cooling both standard SPF values and measured SPF will be used, and given the fact that in the measured SPF auxiliary consumption is taken into account, it is necessary to include auxiliary power consumption in both situations.
For district cooling, distribution cold losses and distribution pump electric consumption between the cooling plant and the customer substation shall not be included in the estimation of the SPF.
In the case of air based cooling systems ensuring also the ventilation function, the cooling supply due to ventilation air flow shall not be accounted. The fan power due to ventilation shall also be discounted in proportion of the ratio of the ventilation air flow to the cooling air flow.
In the case of air based cooling systems with internal cold recovery, the cooling supply due to the cold recovery shall not be accounted. The fan power due to the cold recovery heat exchanger shall be discounted in proportion of the ratio of the pressure losses due to the cold recovery heat exchanger to the total pressure losses of the air based cooling system.
Figure 1 Illustration of SPF boundary conditions for cooling generator using standard SPF and district cooling (and other large cooling systems using measured SPF), where EINPUT_AUX is the energy input to fan and/or pump and EINPUT_CG the energy input to the cooling generator
3.4.Calculation using standard values
A simplified method may be used for individual cooling systems of less than 1.5 MW capacity, for which a standard SPF value is available, to estimate the total cooling energy supplied.
Under the simplified method, the cooling energy supplied by the cooling system (QCsupply) is the nominal cooling capacity) multiplied by the number of equivalent full load hours. A single Cooling Degree Days (CDD) value may be used for a whole country, or distinct values for different climate zones provided that nominal capacities and SPFs are available for these climate zones.
The following default methods may be used to compute :
-for space cooling in the residential sector: EFLH = 96 + 0.85 * CDD
- for space cooling in the tertiary sector: EFLH = 475 + 0.49 * CDD
- for process cooling: EFLH = τs * (7300 + 0.32 * CDD)
Where:
τs is an activity factor to account for the operation time of the specific processes (e.g. all year long τs=1, not on weekends τs=5/7). There is no default value.
3.4.1.Calculation using measured values
Systems for which no standard values exist, as well as cooling systems larger than 1.5 MW capacity and district cooling systems, shall calculate their renewable cooling based on the following measurements:
Measured energy input: The measured energy input includes all energy sources for the cooling system i.e. electricity, gas, heat etc. for cooling generator. It includes also auxiliary pumps and fans for the cooling system but not for the distribution of cooling to a building or a process. In case of air-based cooling with ventilation function, only the additional energy input due to cooling shall be included in the energy input of the cooling system.
Measured cooling energy supply: The cooling energy supply shall be measured as the output from the cooling system and subtracted any cold losses in order to estimate the net cooling energy supply to the building or process that is the end-user of the cooling. The cold losses include losses in a district cooling system and in the cooling distribution system in a building or an industrial site. In case of air-based cooling with ventilation function, the cooling energy supply shall be net of the effect of fresh air introduction for ventilation purposes.
The measurements need to be carried out for the specific year to be reported i.e. all energy input and all cooling energy supply for the whole year.
3.4.2.District cooling: additional requirements
For district cooling systems the net cooling supply at customer level shall be accounted when defining the net cooling supply, denoted as . Thermal losses occurring in the distribution network) shall be deducted from the gross cooling supply ( as follows:
3.4.2.1.Division in subsystems
Cooling systems at district level can be divided in subsystems, which comprise at least one cooling generator or free cooling system. This requires the measurement of the cooling energy supply and of the energy input for each sub-system as well as the allocation of cold losses per sub-system as follows:
3.4.2.2.Auxiliaries
When dividing a cooling system into subsystems, the auxiliaries (e.g. controls, pumps and fans) of the cooling generator(s) and/or free cooling system(s) must be included in the same subsystem(s). Auxiliary energy corresponding to cooling distribution inside the building, e.g. secondary pumps and terminal units (e.g. fan coils, fans of air handling units) are not accounted for.
For auxiliaries which cannot be allocated to a specific subsystem, for instance district cooling network pumps which deliver the cooling energy supplied by all cooling generators, their primary energy consumption shall be allocated to each cooling subsystem in the proportion of the cooling energy supplied by the cooling generators and/or the free cooling systems of each subsystem as with cold losses in the network as follows
where:
is the auxiliary energy consumption of subsystem “i”.
is the auxiliary energy consumption of the entire cooling system, which cannot be allocated to a specific cooling subsystem
3.5.Calculation of renewable energy quantity for cooling for the overall renewable shares and for the heating and cooling renewable energy shares
For the calculation of the overall renewable energy shares, the renewable energy quantity for cooling shall be added both to the numerator ‘gross final consumption of energy from renewable sources’ and to the denominator ‘gross final consumption of energy’
For the calculation of the heating and cooling renewable energy shares the renewable energy quantity for cooling shall be added both to the numerator ‘gross final consumption of energy from renewable sources for heating and cooling’ and to the denominator ‘gross final consumption of energy for heating and cooling’