In early December 2020, three revised Solar Rating & Certification Corporation standards cleared an important hurdle, receiving the Solar Thermal Standard Consensus Committee’s stamp of approval. Following final submission to US ANSI, they were made available on the SRCC website for view and purchase. The standards cover performance rating and test requirements for collectors (SRCC 100), solar thermal systems (SRCC 300) and solar pool heating (SRCC 400).
“Revising the standards has taken us a big step forward,” noted Shawn Martin, SRCC Vice President of Technical Services. “We’ve aligned our rules with those of ISO 9806, making some substantive changes to better address new technologies such as PV-Thermal.”
Usually, standards are amended every five years. In April 2019, the International Code Council set up a Solar Thermal Standard Consensus Committee (IS-STSC), which then held several online meetings to discuss the rule changes proposed by the participants. The committee was made up of 12 members, with four each representing the industry, end users and the general public.
“The committee has done a great job of not closing the door on innovation, though we’ve closed some loopholes in the technology descriptions,” said Adam Chrisman, President of Californian solar collector manufacturer Sunearth, an IS-STSC industrial member. As an example, the revised standards include a more in-depth explanation of labelling needs. Until now, solar thermal suppliers have relied on labels affixed to each component, be it a collector or a tank. However, a growing number of manufacturers are offering complete solutions these days. As a result, the SRCC added Chapter 4, “Labelling, Marking and Documentation,” to system standard SRCC 300 to specify what sort of information must be printed on one or two labels in which size and format.
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