On 20^th September, the recast of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) was published in the EU Official Journal. The revised Directive will enter into force on 10 October 2023. Member States will then have two years to transpose the provisions included in the new Directive into their national legislation. The Commission’s proposal was presented in July 2021 as part of the Fit for 55 Package, and then amended in May 2022 with REPowerEU.

The EED is particularly relevant for the solar heating and cooling sector since measures promoting the installation of solar thermal technologies can be eligible to contribute to the fulfillment of the energy savings targets set in the Directive.

Furthermore, the new Directive introduces some relevant changes for solar heat and renewable heating:

• Article 25 requires Member States to provide the Commission, as part of their integrated national energy and climate plans, with a comprehensive heating and cooling assessment. Furthermore, municipalities with a population exceeding 45,000 inhabitants will be subject to mandatory local heating and cooling plans, which are to be prepared by regional and local authorities in consultation with the relevant public and private stakeholders.
• Article 26 sets the criteria for efficient district heating and cooling systems. These can be calculated by the Member States in two different ways: the first one is the proportions of renewable energy, waste heat, cogenerated heat, high-efficiency cogenerated heat, and combinations thereof, which vary over different time periods; the second one is the amount of GHG emissions (grams/kWh) from the district heating and cooling system per unit of heat or cold delivered to the customers. Member States will have to ensure that where it is built or substantially refurbished, a district heating system meets the criteria outlined above.