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3 4 5 6 2 1 manual a common approach for certification or equivalent qualification of installers of small-scale renewable energy systems in buildings

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contact details of ademe french environment and energy management agency coordinator philippe masset head of unit international programmes partnerships international affairs division 27 rue louis vicat 75737 paris cedex 15 france t +33 1 47 65 23 92 f +33 1 46 48 84 12 e philippe.masset@ademe.fr www.ademe.fr contact details of erec european renewable energy council co-coordinator renewable energy house rue d arlon 63-67 b-1040 brussels belgium t +32 2 546 1933 f +32 2 546 1934 e erec@erec.org www.erec.org

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qualicert project description manual a common approach for certification or equivalent qualification of installers of small-scale renewable energy systems in buildings qualicert stands for common approach for certification or equivalent qualification of installers of small-scale renewable energy systems in buildings and the project started in july 2009 the large up-take of renewable energy installations in the building sector will require a significant number of highly-qualified installers capable of integrating renewables in both new and existing buildings it will also be necessary to ensure the good functioning of these systems after installation and make sure that they are well adapted to the individual requirements of each customer and that life-cycle considerations are taken into account at all times qualicert was launched in anticipation of the implementation of article 14 of the directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources 2009/28/ec obliging member states to develop and mutually recognize certification or equivalent qualification schemes for installers of small-scale renewable energy systems e.g biomass boilers and stoves solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems shallow geothermal systems and heat pumps by december 2012 the project has identified a number of key-success criteria that should be taken into account when designing a certification or equivalent qualification system any certification or equivalent qualification scheme needs to be embedded in the national training and quality framework of the member state therefore the development of one european scheme that could be applied to all eu member states is inappropriate the approach taken by this project is in line with the requirement of art 14 of the european res directive asking member states to provide such schemes by 31st december 2012 the project involves the national stakeholders of 5 core countries austria france greece italy and poland the other eu member states being involved through a wide dissemination activity visit the project website to learn more www.qualicert-project.eu 3

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project description qualicert coordinator french environment and energy management agency ademe co-coordinator european renewable energy council erec project partners association française pour la qualité d installation des systèmes à énergie renouvelable qualit enr austrian institute of technology ait centre for renewable energy sources and saving cres ente per le nuove tecnologie l energia e l ambiente italian national agency for new technologies energy and the environment enea european biomass association aebiom european builders confederation ebc european geothermal energy council egec european heat pump association ehpa european photovoltaic industry association epia european solar thermal industry federation estif european technical contractors committee for the construction industry ceetb krajowa agencja poszanowania energii s.a polish national energy conservation agency kape © dmitry kalinovsky dreamstime © pedro castellano/istock the sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors it does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the european union neither the eaci nor the european commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

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qualicert contents project description introduction 3 6 2 key-success criteria 2.1 matrix of success criteria 23 1 24 25 state of the art of the certification or equivalent qualification scheme in europe 1.1 european schemes running schemes other relevant projects 1.2 national schemes austria belgium bulgaria cyprus czech republic denmark finland france germany greece hungary ireland italy lithuania luxembourg malta the netherlands poland portugal romania slovakia slovenia spain sweden the united kingdom 8 11 11 11 12 12 13 14 14 15 15 15 16 17 17 18 18 18 18 19 19 19 20 20 20 21 21 21 21 22 2.2 analysis general framework for certification or equivalent qualification obtaining certification or equivalent qualification renewing certification or equivalent qualification training audits 25 26 32 34 36 3 sectoral specificities best practices 3.1 biomass 3.2 geothermal energy 3.3 heat pumps 3.4 photovoltaics 3.5 solar thermal 39 40 43 46 49 52 4 conclusions annex glossary best practices worldwide 55 59 59 61 5

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introduction in its recently adopted climate and energy package the european union has set itself ambitious energy and climate targets the well-known 20/20/20 targets to be reached by 2020 in order to reach these targets the building sector is a key area on which to focus attention on the one hand it is a big energy consumer and on the other it offers great potential for the integration of small-scale heat and/or power systems using energy from renewable sources res the large up-take of res installations in the building sector will require a significant number of highly-qualified installers capable of integrating renewables in both new and existing buildings it will also be necessary to ensure the good functioning of these systems after installation and make sure that they are well adapted to the individual requirements of each customer and that life-cycle considerations are taken into account at all times qualicert1 was launched in anticipation of the implementation of article 14 of the directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources 2009/28/ec obliging member states to develop and mutually recognise certification or equivalent qualification schemes for installers of small-scale renewable energy systems2 by december 2012 the project has identified a number of key-success criteria that should be taken into account when designing a certification or equivalent qualification system these keysuccess criteria are outlined in this manual to guarantee the broadest possible support for future certification or equivalent qualification schemes qualicert relies on an interdisciplinary multi-stakeholder approach involving all of the following builders and installers via their eu associations existing training providers and accrediting bodies the res industry through its european associations and a number of national energy agencies.3 beyond the proactive approach anticipating the eu obligation qualicert also addresses the genuine market need by making a qualified offer for a comprehensive system to certify installers in order to guarantee quality installations and satisfied customers this will in turn spur further market deployment © qualit enr d delvoye eurl eds © dimplex 1 2 3 for more information on the project and its activities please visit www.qualicert-project.eu « biomass boilers and stoves solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems shallow geothermal systems and heat pumps » french environment and energy management agency ademe european renewable energy council erec european photovoltaic industry association epia european solar thermal industry federation estif european biomass association aebiom european geothermal energy council egec european heat pump association ehpa association française pour la qualité d installation des systems à énergie renouvelable qualit enr austrian institute of technology ait european technical contractors committee for the construction industry ceetb european builders confederation ebc centre for renewable energy sources cres polish national energy conservation agency kape italian national agency for new technologies energy and sustainable economic development enea 6

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qualicert introduction box 1 qualicert ­ how the key success criteria were drafted in a first step qualicert collected information to assess certification schemes that already exist in the different eu member states for installers of small-scale res installations in buildings based on this analysis,4 a set of success criteria for technical legal institutional financial and communication aspects were distilled by the multidisciplinary qualicert consortium national energy agencies renewable energy industry federations installer federations national certification accreditation management bodies the following 4 critical aspects were considered obtaining certification or equivalent qualification renewing certification or equivalent qualification training and audits the identified success criteria were then subject to reality checks from experts in the field of res and accreditation/certification/equivalent qualification from 21 different eu countries and members of the ad hoc qualicert high-level steering group other relevant stakeholders who also participated in qualicert validation workshops ­ organised in italy 14th may 2010 poland 25th may 2010 greece 3rd june 2010 austria 21st june 2010 france 1st july 2010 and brussels 30th september 2010 box 2 qualicert glossary ­ what does this mean in order to be as precise as possible a glossary was developed detailing the exact meaning of key terms referred to in this document this glossary can be found in the annex on page 59 those most frequently used are listed below accreditation refers to a proof of competence given by a credible authority applies to an entity or a training or education programme abiding by sufficiently stringent and uniform training standards and suitably designed to reach their goals certification refers to a proof of conformity more specifically a procedure by which a third party gives written assurance that a product process or service conforms to specified requirements installer an individual or an installation company which plans installs maintains and troubleshoots a small-scale res system label a recognised quality brand issued by an awarding body which conforms to a set of criteria implemented by a company following an assessment and a validation procedure qualification the formal outcome certificate diploma title or label of an assessment and validation process obtained when a competent body determines that an installer has achieved the learning outcomes and possesses the necessary competence to do a job in a specific area of work a qualification confers official recognition of education and training in the labour market for a full list please visit the annex 4 the full version of the document assessment of existing certification equivalent qualification and training schemes in europe is available on www.qualicert-project.eu 7

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1 one state of the art of the certification or equivalent qualification in europe

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state of the art of the certification or equivalent qualification in europe this section summarises the results of the analysis5 mentioned in box 1 p 7 as well as some main outcomes of the validation workshops organised during the period may ­ september 2010 the consulted stakeholders stressed the importance of implementing a certification or equivalent qualification scheme to improve the quality of res installations it is widely agreed that such a scheme would on the one hand enable the development of installation standards and best practices while increasing the craftsmanship of professionals and improving the general quality of res installations on the other it would also increase consumer confidence in res products and give them easy access to a network of qualified installers the results show that the existing schemes are very diverse and all present unique characteristics for example a scheme might be implemented by public authorities or private organisms and both have proved to work some certifying bodies comply with an international norm such as iso 17024 or have been accredited by the national body other bodies have been created by the stakeholders themselves involved in the res sector and have been implemented following a collaborative initiative between installers unions and industry sectors most of the schemes implemented have started with one technology most often solar thermal installations or heat pumps and some have then been extended to integrate other technologies beyond these intrinsic characteristics it was found that the success of a scheme very much depends on the way in which it is implemented in particular a purely voluntary scheme and one linked to a subsidy programme will draw very different results training for res installers may be provided by different training infrastructures depending on the country training institutions manufacturers federations guilds may offer different types of training the variety of training structures may therefore cause some confusion and overlapping in competences the training structures may be accredited not all certification or equivalent qualification schemes contain an audit component however there is a general agreement on the crucial role of audit for controlling the quality safety and performance of the installations different types of audits might be realised administrative audits based on documentation sent by the company or/and onsite audits to control the quality of installations 1 © wagner co tournus © egec 5 the full version of the document assessment of existing certification equivalent qualification and training schemes in europe is available on www.qualicert-project.eu 9

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however concern is expressed regarding both costs and the administrative burden of a certification /equivalent qualification process some stakeholders also stress the lack of training and certification equivalent qualification infrastructures in some countries and thus the additional need for financial resources to set them up support from public authorities including financial support is considered necessary for the implementation of a certification or equivalent qualification process the need for determining new regulations in some of the countries may also constitute a hurdle to the process depending also on the complexity of the legislative procedure in those countries additionally some installers unions have expressed their disagreement with a mandatory certification which would oblige already active installers to go through an additional costly process to be able to continue performing their activities finally it has been stressed that mutual recognition of certificates between different member states constitutes an enormous challenge considering the different criteria e.g the requirement for audit only in some countries or even the duration and content of the required training as a general consideration quality schemes aiming at giving assurance regarding the skills of installers can have different names certification qualification label etc the use of those terms by european actors of the res industry does not follow one harmonised set of definitions ­ in fact the meaning of those words can be quite different from one country to another this report transcribes the terms used by the scheme managers themselves therefore we advise the reader not to draw conclusions as to the specifics of one scheme based on the use of one word or the other as already stressed in box 2 p 7 with the aim of avoiding any misunderstanding with the terminology used a glossary of key terms has been developed which is annexed to this report see the annex the major schemes are summarised in the table according to the following format name of the scheme managed by public private checks technologies covered scheme for a person company launch date checks training the installer must participate in a specific training programme exam the installer must pass an examination written or practical technical references the installer must provide documentation on previous installations charter the installer must sign a quality charter proof of relating training proof of competence that is not necessarily acquired in the framework of the certification scheme documentation audit the installer is controlled regarding registration tax compliance insurances etc on-site audit an installation by the installer is audited technologies covered solar thermal systems photovoltaic systems biomass boilers and stoves shallow geothermal systems heat pump systems including geothermal heat pumps 10

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1 1.1 european schemes 1.1.1 running schemes eu-cert.hp certification eucert certification managed by european heat pump association private checks training exam technologies covered scheme for a person launch date 2006 the eucert training programme for heat pump installers was the result of the eu-cert.hp project completed in 2006 it developed a common training framework and a certification scheme for heat pumps installers across europe the program is active and coordinated by the european heat pump association ehpa more information on this scheme under chapter 3 ­ heat pumps section qualicert state of the art of the certification or equivalent qualification in europe 1.1.2 other relevant projects geotrainet project the objective of the geotrainet project is to develop a european education programme for the certification of geothermal heating and cooling installations the aim is to launch a massive training programme specifically for designers a feasibility study and drillers digging boreholes and inserting tubes of geothermal installations further to the training programmes a certification scheme for drillers should be implemented in 2011 and will be managed by the austrian institute of technology ait the certification will then be issued on a voluntary basis by the national competent authorities in consultation with the relevant stakeholders allowing it to be recognised at eu-level siret project the siret project further training model specialists in renewable energy ­ technology in sanitary heating and airconditioning crafts was an eu-funded project aiming at developing a european training model the project trained 99 craftsmen who acquired basic and detailed knowledge in the following technologies solar thermal photovoltaics biomass and heat pumps the project developed basic and structural modules each module was completed by a written test when passing the examination participants received the certificate specialist in renewable energies and technologies in the sanitary heating and air conditioning crafts european qualifications framework for lifelong learning eqf the european qualifications framework for lifelong learning eqf is a common european reference framework which links countries qualifications systems together acting as a translation device to make qualifications more readable and understandable across different countries and systems in europe it has two principal aims to promote citizens mobility between countries and to facilitate their lifelong learning 6 6 european commission education and culture dg eqf brochure european communities 2008 http ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc44_en.htm 11

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earth project the extend accredited renewables training for heating earth project aimed at developing installer training courses for solar water heating systems swh groundsource heat pumps gshp and biomass energy for heating the objectives of the project were to extend or create definitions of key competencies required to install biomass gshp and swh systems and develop appropriate training courses for installers and train-the-trainers trainings the project was carried out in austria bulgaria germany spain finland greece lithuania slovenia and the united kingdom with links to observer partners in poland hungary and romania it ended in 2006 1.2 national schemes 1.2.1 austria running schemes although austria has various technical trainings and certification schemes already in place the austrian stakeholders consulted in the first phase of the project stressed the importance of defining a common framework at a national level furthermore individual actors i.e institutes training providers etc should work together so as to get the most out of the training courses/certification schemes as set up austrian institute of technology ait training and certification schemes ait certification managed by austrian institute of technology public-private suntrain project the suntrain project aimed at defining the general key competencies that an installer must have to install solar thermal systems safely and effectively training institutes and courses providing solar thermal courses should then be accredited/certified by an independent body the objective of the project was to develop training programme accreditation standards and certification requirements which can be implemented using existing training infrastructures the following countries were involved in the project germany greece spain and the united kingdom checks training exam random on-site audits technologies covered scheme for a person launch date 2005/2010 the certification scheme is managed by the austrian institute of technology ait a private non-profit body co-financed by the austrian ministry for transport innovation and technology bmvit and by the federation of austrian industries as part of the eucert.hp project see section on european projects p.11 ait has developed specific training courses and certification schemes for installers and planners of heat pumps since 2005 and for installers and planners of solar thermal and photovoltaic installations implemented in 2010 ait is accredited by the austrian notified body and the certification process follows the iso 17024 standard the certificate is delivered to the installer or the planner 12

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1 austrian biomass association trainings austrian biomass association trainings managed by austrian biomass association private checks training exam technologies covered scheme for a person launch date 2000 the austrian biomass association organises different kind of trainings such as courses for certified bioheat plumbers courses for bioheat-chimney sweepers seminar days for master builders seminar days for teachers and information evenings for mayors supported by the ministry of the environment lebensministerium in the framework of the klima:activ initiative the aforementioned trainings are organised in cooperation with the national and regional guilds and are mainly practice-oriented more information on bioheat plumbers and the bioheat-chimney sweepers courses under chapter 3 p 42 ­ biomass section quest label qualicert state of the art of the certification or equivalent qualification in europe quest quality centre for sustainable energy technologies managed by quest quality centre sustainable energy private checks tech references on-site audit technologies covered scheme for a company launch date 2010 quest is a non-profit association founded by technical expertise centres and sector federations it was initiated by the flemish energy agency in 2007 and is operational since 2010 the body is financed by fees from public authorities sector federations and installers/suppliers and manages quality labels for installers of small-scale renewable energy systems as of december 2010 only photovoltaic and heat pump systems were covered with plans to extend the scheme to solar thermal and ventilation systems with heat recovery the five first labels were granted to pv installers in october 2010 1.2.2.1 belgium running schemes soltherm training and recognition soltherm managed by walloon regional authority public checks training exam technologies covered scheme for a company launch date 2004 the soltherm training for solar thermal installers has been run as a voluntary scheme by the walloon region since 2002 since 2004 the training is linked to the regional subsidy scheme the grant is only given for solar thermal installations made by a soltherm installer the installer has to attend a mandatory training to be certified as a soltherm installer the qualification is valid for 2 years and may be renewed after a written examination by december 2010 more than 1,200 installers had received the soltherm recognition 13

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pvqual 1.2.2.2 belgium other relevant projects q-direct the q-direct project aims at developing a reference framework for a quality scheme for distributed renewable energy concept for both products and installers of solar thermal solar photovoltaics biomass heat pumps ventilation systems with heat recovery and urban wind turbines the objective is to develop guidelines to design and operate a quality scheme for installers of small-scale renewable energy systems the project is financed by a public body the belgian federal science policy office pvqual charter managed by renewable business facilitator private checks charter technologies covered scheme for a company launch date 2007 the renewable business facilitator a private association gathering a network of 300 manufacturers installers and research centres manages the pvqual label as part of this voluntary scheme the installer signs a quality charter with 11 commitments the installer has two possibilities 1 officially ensure the company s technical staff and subcontractors attend relevant training 2 provide evidence of relevant experience of at least 2 years in the field of pv systems 1.2.3 bulgaria there is no existing certification or equivalent qualification scheme in bulgaria nevertheless an introduction on the use and general information for res is organised by the national biomass association bgbiom in the context of the agricultural university since 1999 some manufacturers organise training sessions of different natures for their staff members several stakeholders such as the association of bulgarian energy agency abea consider that there is a lack of such schemes in the market and are interested in the outputs of qualicert 1.2.4 cyprus rbf heat pump platform eucert certification eucert certification managed by rbf/heat pump platform in cooperation with the european heat pump association private checks training exam technologies covered scheme for a person launch date 2010 from 2010 onwards belgium offers trainings according to the eucert european programme for heat pumps installers see section on european schemes p.11 there is no existing certification or equivalent qualification scheme in cyprus however the stakeholders involved in the renewable energy sector are currently considering implementing a quality scheme and would be interested in qualicert outputs 14

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1 1.2.5 czech republic running schemes ehpa eucert scheme qualicert state of the art of the certification or equivalent qualification in europe 1.2.7 finland running schemes sulpu eucert training programme eucert certification eucert certification managed by czech heat pump association avtc in cooperation with the european heat pump association private checks training exam technologies covered scheme for a person launch date 2006 the ehpa eucert scheme is managed by the czech heat pump association avtc which also handles the certification managed by finnish heat pump association sulpu and amiedu in cooperation with the european heat pump association private checks training exam technologies covered scheme for a person launch date 2008 finland joined the eucert programme in 2007 see details in the european schemes section the programme is run by the finnish heat pump association sulpu and the training provider amiedu in cooperation with the ehpa 1.2.6 denmark running schemes kso scheme kso quality assurance scheme managed by danish technological institute public-private checks training exam on-site audit technologies covered scheme for a company launch date 2002 the kso scheme is managed by the danish technological institute a non-profit centre accredited by the national accreditation body danak the danish technological institute receives public subsidies from the danish energy agency for operating the kso scheme ­ the scheme is cofinanced by the participating installers the kso scheme includes solar thermal installations as well as photovoltaic and biomass systems 15

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