European Solar Thermal Industry Federation

The 22nd SKN meeting: quest for improvements

Date: 13 Mar 2017
Category: Solar Heat News

The 22nd meeting of the Solar Keymark Network (SKN) took place on the 7th & 8th March 2017. It was hosted by Fraunhofer ISE, at their promises in Freiburg, Germany.

As usual, the extensive agenda included a large number of topics relevant for SKN stakeholders. It is recommended that those with responsibilities in testing and/or certification of products have a more detailed analysis of the minutes of the meeting, which will be available from the SKN members section within weeks.

One of the main issues addressed refers to the complaint procedures within SKN. This is still an ongoing process. The overall procedure has been revised and will already be put into practice, following its approval at the previous SKN meeting. The matter of retesting and tolerance levels is still open. The process is taking longer than expected but shall be reported at the next SKN meeting.

The proposal for funding of projects under the Solar Certification Fund has been approved. With this new call, the SCF will surpass the threshold of 100 projects supported in its 8 calls so far, while the total funding allocated is now close to 1.2 million Euros.

The SKN also approved a new set of working rules, providing more clarity to the process, namely in what regards the impartiality of the SCF Steering Group members. It also included a provision allowing for volunteer evaluators to take part in the evaluation process. Anyone interested can now volunteer to be an evaluator of the next SCF call, scheduled for late 2017. The composition of the SCF steering group has also been improved, with a new member from Greece, from EBHE.

Following the previous decision of engaging further with the Keymark Management Organisation (KMO), there was a presentation by the representative of the KMO. From the side of the SKN, this interaction has been dealt with by the SKN marketing and communication working group. This working group is also working on a revision of the SKN communication materials and website. Those interested in contributing to this process are advised to use the links available in the members section of the SKN website.

Other relevant decisions during this meeting included the clarification on the procedures regarding PVT collectors (photovoltaic & thermal solar collectors), the rules for replacing insulation materials (without retesting), a proposal for defining coloured glass families and also a precision on the use of new datasheets, namely for previously certified OEM & OBL products.

Finally, there were also several relevant updates from liaison officers and from the Labelpack A+ initiative, on the status of the implementation of the package label and the review process for Lot1 & Lot2.

The next meeting of the SKN will take place in Larnaca, Cyprus, on 17 & 18th October, hosted by TÜV Cyprus.

 

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