The main topic discussed at the SKN meeting were the complaints submitted by several tests labs and manufacturers regarding several Solar Keymark Certificates issued for the collectors from one manufacturer.

The topic led to some an important exchange of views between different intervenients in the process. There was a shared opinion that the process is taking far longer than desired and desirable for any of the involved parts and that the complaint procedures foreseen in the Solar Keymark Scheme Rules are inadequate.

As such, it was decided to create a working group to work on the improvement of the complaint procedures, trying to reach a swifter process and also reviewing the accepted tolerances when re-testing.

In order to avoid market distortion until the new rules are in place, a proposal supported by ESTIF, proposed to black-out on the test reports those values (or those emanating from them) under dispute but only when there was a substantial number of manufacturers and test labs complaining. After a heated debate on the matter, the proposal was not accepted.

This is a complex matter and difficult to summarise. We are at your disposal for additional clarifications. We also invite you to read the article on this matter at Solar Thermal World website. More information on the discussion at the SKN and the working group will be available in the minutes of the SKN meeting that shall be made available soon.

Other relevant topics covered in this meeting included the new collector data sheet, which was adopted. This is a new harmonized data sheet using as reference the new standard ISO 9806 and including some adjustments regarding the requirements from energy labelling (Lot2).

One important topic relates to the Solar Keymark database. The database is being reviewed and it shall provide more information than what is currently available, i.e., it will include within the database some information now only available in the test results. Some of this information will be relevant in the framework of ErP. The database shall include also the possibility to filter information based on different parameters.

This is a sensitive question, to which several manufacturers have expressed reservations. The database improvement is welcomed but the terms in which it will provide additional data or allow to filter or sort should be further discussed. We will provide more information on this matter in the coming month.

There was also the start of the discussion and work on some strategic issues regarding the SKN, for which several working groups were set up.

At this meeting, the first one of the new chairman, there was also opportunity to nominate Harald Drück as honorary Chairman, based on his outstanding contribution to SKN over the years.

For additional information and clarifications about this SKN meeting or SKN in general please contact pedro.dias@estif.org.