EC rules out changes to multipack ban
20th August 2017
EUROPE: The F-gas ban on refrigerants with a GWP of 150 or more in multipack centralised refrigeration systems from 2022 will not need to be amended, the European Commission has decided.
The implementation of the F-gas regulation included a promise to review the provision affecting multipack centralised refrigeration systems of the type normally used in larger supermarkets and hypermarkets.
The provision – 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 latest F-gas regulation (517/2014), which entered into force in 2015 included a promise to review the prohibition by considering the availability of cost-effective, technically feasible, energy-efficient and reliable alternatives.
The technical assessment report published this month has concluded that many alternatives are available and are already, or will be, cost competitive by 2022. “The Commission therefore sees no need to amend the provision pursuant to point 13 of Annex III of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014,” the report says.
“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.”
It mentions transcritical CO2 centralised systems, indirect centralised systems and stand-alone systems as being “feasible, reliable and energy-efficient alternatives”.
The ban applies only to newly installed equipment after 1 January 2022, not to equipment that was installed before that date.
The report document can be viewed and downloaded here and its relevant annexes here.
