GEN – 815.00. The EU F-Gas Regulation (No 517/2014) bans the use of fluorinated greenhouse gases with GWPs greater than 150 in systems with a rated capacity of 40kW or more from 2022. The Regulation also included a promise to review this prohibition by considering the availability of cost-effective, technically feasible, energy-efficient and reliable alternatives. This has been assessed by the European Commission in its report of last 4 August 2017. In this article, the Eurovent Team has analysed the EC report (for members only).
The EU F-Gas Regulation (No. 517/2014) – point 13 of Annex III – bans the use of fluorinated greenhouse gases with GWPs greater than 150 in systems with a rated capacity of 40kW or more from 2022. The exception is in the primary refrigerant circuit of cascade systems where refrigerants with a GWP of less than 1500 are permitted.
The implementation of the F-Gas Regulation included a promise to review this provision, affecting multipack centralised refrigeration systems of the type normally used in supermarkets and hypermarkets, by considering the availability of cost-effective, technically feasible, energy-efficient and reliable alternatives.
On 4 August 2017, the European Commission, in its technical assessment report, has concluded that:
From a technical assessment it is apparent that there are multiple technological alternatives available today, which are already used in the commercial refrigeration sector across the EU and would not be affected by the 2022 requirement. These include transcritical CO2 centralised systems, indirect centralised systems and stand-alone systems which all are feasible, reliable and energy-efficient alternatives. The results further suggest that many of these alternatives are already or will be cost- competitive by 2022, when the new requirement enters into force. It is important to keep in mind that this rule will only apply to newly installed equipment after 1 January 2022, but not to equipment that was installed before that date. The Commission therefore sees no need to amend the provision pursuant to point 13 of Annex III of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014.
Recommended Actions
Eurovent PG-RDC members are invited to look at the EC reports and its Annexes (including the Table II.1 reporting exemplary designs for centralised systems compliant with the 2022 requirement).
Related documents and links
All related documents and articles can be found in the respective sections in the side bar on the right.
- GEN – 815.01 – Report from the European Commission assessing the 2022 requirement to avoid highly global warming hydrofluorocarbons in some commercial refrigeration systems c_2017_5230_en
- GEN – 815.02 – Report from the European Commission assessing the 2022 requirement to avoid highly global warming hydrofluorocarbons in some commercial refrigeration systems c_2017_5230_annexes_en
- https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/f-gas_en
