The way for EU legislation supporting solar thermal heating and cooling is open.
Brussels - “We strongly welcome the decision of the Council: the clear signal of the EU Heads of State will help creating an even more positive framework for investments and growth, if the binding commitments are quickly followed by appropriate legislative facts” said Mr Ole Pilgaard, President of ESTIF (European Solar Thermal Industry Federation).
Today, the Heads of State of 27 EU countries established a binding target of a 20% share of renewable energies in the overall EU energy consumption by 2020, following the proposal of the European Commission. While the target as such was widely agreed, its binding character has been negotiated until the last minute.
So far, EU Directives promoting renewables are in force in the electricity and in the transport sector, but the heating sector is not covered. Thus, solar thermal was the only renewable technology which was not supported by EU wide legislation. In spite of its cost effectiveness, solar thermal was therefore neglected in many European countries.
Therefore, three years ago, ESTIF initiated a EU-wide campaign calling for stronger policies to promote renewable heating and cooling. Today’s decision of the Council calls for a “new comprehensive directive on the use of all renewable energy resources”, explicitly including renewable heating and cooling.
Mr Raffaele Piria, Policy Director of ESTIF, declared: “The way for EU legislation supporting solar thermal heating and cooling is definitely open. However, it must be made sure that the new comprehensive directive contains measures appropriate to reach this binding target. For instance, it should strongly encourage the Member States to make solar heating obligatory on new buildings. Also the timing is essential: while the new directive is discussed, the effective promotion of renewables in the sectors covered by existing directives may not be stopped, if we want to reach the overall targets.”
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