New rules, establishing a methodology for calculating the quantity of renewable cooling and district cooling that can be counted towards EU renewable energy targets, were published by the European Commission this week. This delegated act clarifies the way in which cooling can count towards a Member State’s overall renewables target, and also how it contributes to the sectoral targets on heating and cooling and district heating and cooling under the Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001/EU). The new calculation methodology fills a gap in the current legislation, since the renewable cooling contribution to renewables could not so far be calculated in practice, even though it was in principle covered by the Renewable Energy Directive since 2009. The EU methodology is the first such calculation method introduced anywhere in the world.
The combination of a warming climate, changing building design and increasing demand for thermal comfort has seen an increase in energy consumption from cooling. Figures show that cooling is no longer statistically insignificant in terms of energy consumption, but a new emerging sector that already accounts for between 5% and 20% of final energy consumption in some EU countries. This has made the adoption of the renewable cooling calculation methodology a topical and pressing issue for the EU and its Member States. Under Article 7(3) of the 2018 Renewable Energy Directive, the Commission is obliged to adopt renewable cooling methodology by the end of 2021.
In more technical terms, the new methodology introduces a progressive system in which the renewable share of cooling depends on its energy performance. It sets 2 thresholds: cooling systems below the lower threshold will not be recognised as renewable, while cooling from systems at or above the higher threshold will fully count as renewable. Cooling systems between the 2 thresholds will be able to credit a linearly increasing quantity of cooling as renewable energy, as their efficiency approaches the higher threshold.
This methodology will reward the best available technologies of today, such as highly efficient reversible heat pumps and free cooling by district cooling networks. It also incentivises the future deployment of innovative cooling technologies, such as solar cooling, that both reduce energy consumption and increase the use of renewable sources for cooling.
In addition to filling a regulatory gap, the delegated act on renewable cooling ensures that the increasingly important cooling sector joins other sectors in contributing to the 2030 goals of the ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package, and is integrated into the climate neutrality framework set by the European Green Deal for 2050.
The delegated act has been sent to the European Parliament and the Council for a 2-month scrutiny. If these institutions decide not to object, the act will enter into force after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.