Eurospace calls on the European Commission to clarify the scope exclusion for equipment designed to be sent into space from the Ecodesign solar photovoltaics regulatory initiatives

by

12 December 2022 – Today, Eurospace has submitted a joint European Space Sector feedback in response to the European Commission public consultation on potential measures for regulating photovoltaic (PV) products in order to manage their environmental impacts under the EU’s Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC and the Energy labelling Regulation (EU) 2017/1369.

The two Commission initiatives aim to make solar PV products more energy efficient, extend their lifetime (i.e. make them less prone to damage) and improve their material efficiency (i.e. making them more recyclable). Our interpretation is that the potential measures are only meaningful in the context of the terrestrial on-ground applications.

Solar PV products designed to be sent into space are critical for EU-funded applications such as Copernicus earth observation satellites, Galileo navigation satellites and other missions strategic to Europe. They have key design drivers which are significantly different from Earth-based PV systems.

With regard to the present European Commission initiative, we have analysed the available information and legal bases. As a result, it is our understanding that the potential measures for Solar PV are only meaningful in the context of terrestrial on-ground applications and would thus not apply to equipment designed to be sent into space, incl. as part of satellites, probes, capsules, etc.. For reasons of legal certainty, we herewith kindly ask the Commission to clarify this scope exclusion explicitly in any implementing measure(s).

The feedback paper here elaborates more in detail on the reasons which – independently from each other – justify the scope exclusion.

We would like to emphasise that the present exclusion position is related specifically to the existing Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC and the potential implementing measures for Solar PV being examined under it. We are aware that space products are generally covered under the Commission proposal of 30 March 2022 for a Regulation establishing a framework for setting ecodesign requirements for sustainable products and repealing Directive 2009/125/EC. We have recently shared our feedback on this proposal, welcoming the overall objectives and product-specific approach of this new proposal and its recital (16) addressing space technologies (here).

The present feedback has been prepared with the support of the Materials and Processes Technology Board of the European Space Components Coordination (ESCC MPTB), which is a partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA), national space agencies, and space industry represented by ASD-Eurospace.

Contacts:

  • Secretariat: Pierre Lionnet, Research and Managing Director, ASD-EUROSPACE, pierre.lionnet@eurospace.org, +33-(0)1 44 42 00 70
  • Regulatory expert: Tim Becker, Senior Legal Advisor, REACHLaw Ltd., tim.becker@reachlaw.fi; +358 (0)40 773 8143