Case Study

Accreditation, delivering confidence in the energy efficiency conditions of cogeneration plants

Summary

The Spanish National Accreditation Body, Entidad National de Acreditación (ENAC), together with the Spanish National Markets and Competition Commission’s (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, CNMC) Energy Directorate, developed an accreditation scheme for inspection of the energy efficiency conditions of cogeneration plants, based on the UNE EN-ISO/IEC 17020 standard. Interested bodies can now begin the accreditation process.

Background 

This scheme has been developed by ENAC and the CNMC Energy Directorate, which has among its functions, according to Article 29 of Royal Decree 413/2014 of June 6, the liquidation and payment of specific remuneration to facilities producing electricity generated from renewable energy, cogeneration and waste.

Strategy  

To receive such funds, cogeneration installations must demonstrate their compliance with specified levels of energy efficiency. To do this, they must annually send the CNMC a certificate issued by a recognized and independent body to the facility, in which the efficiency achieved by cogeneration is manifested. The CNMC inspects these certificates to ensure that only cogenerations which achieve the minimum energy efficiency values receive specific remuneration.

Results and impact 

With the accreditation scheme, the CNMC has aimed to provide a solid guarantee that the certificates issued by accredited companies accurately and reliably reflect the energy efficiency of the cogenerations.

Contact

If you wish for more detailed information on the new accreditation scheme or have any questions about the accreditation process, you can contact Daniel Román, technician in ENAC’s Inspection and Control Bodies department. (droman@enac.es)