All solar thermal manufacturers are now surely aware of the European Commission product database denominated European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL). As previously reported,  from 1st January 2019, the official system is online.

All new products have to be registered since January 2019 and products placed in the market before the end of 2018 had to be registered within a six-month period. Products covered by a delegated act under Energy Labelling regulations, including Lot1 and Lot2, for space and water heaters (811/2013; 812/2013; 813/2013, 814/2013) also have to comply with these requirements. This means that the so called “solar devices”and other components of a package shall also be registered. Packages are also in the system, as long as they are placed in the market as a package by the manufacturer.

Though the development of the online tool behind this official registry has faced some difficulties in its development. The implementation of the modules for space and water heaters have faced some delays and problems in its functioning, in particular the introduction of information on packages.

This means that the test phase was extended and, in parallel to the Official Registry, there is a test option, desginated Acceptance. In this one users can practice/test the introduction of data in the EPREL Compliance Website.

The final test phase for Market Surveillance Authorities shall end by the end of October and in November the database shall already be operating for these entities.

It should be noted that the EPREL shall have two interfaces, one for the public (public site) and the other one for surveillance authorities (compliance site). The one for the public is expected to be available during the first half of 2020. As referred above, the one for public authorities shall start operating formally next month.

Most information is available in the EPREL dedicated workspace. A particularly important and useful document covers the registration and compliance control. In order to have access, entities will need an ‘EU LOGIN’ account. Those entities with an EU login (for EU projects, for instance), can use it. More information and access to the login creation here.

For those interested to know more on the EPREL and implications for solar thermal products, please contact members@solarheateurope.eu.