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Hydraulic Balancing: Hydraulic balancing is required for heating networks when installing:

• Heat pumps
• Solar thermal systems with supplementary heating in new single-family houses or multi-unit buildings

Solar Thermal Systems: These systems must:

• Have Solar Keymark-certified solar thermal collectors
• Include a calorimeter
• Have a minimum gross surface area of collectors:
  • ≥9 m² for flat-plane collectors
  • ≥7 m² for vacuum tube collectors
• Non-glass thermal collectors with polyethylene pipes and hybrid solar collectors (hot water and electricity) are ineligible

Solar Photovoltaic Systems: These systems must:

• Have a peak power capacity ≤30 kW
• Be installed on the building’s roof or facade or incorporated into the building envelope
• Hybrid solar collectors (hot water and electricity) are eligible as photovoltaic collectors

An electricity storage facility is eligible with a new photovoltaic installation if:

• It’s connected to a self-consumed or community-used solar photovoltaic installation
• The solar installation’s peak power is >4 kW (or >1.5 kW per unit in multi-unit buildings)
• The storage capacity is ≤1.5 kWh per kWpeak for residential buildings (max 12 kWh for single-family homes, 9 kWh per unit in multi-units) or ≤1 kWh per kWpeak for non-residential buildings

Heat Pumps: Eligible heat pumps and hybrid heat pumps include:

• Geothermal heat pumps (vertical/horizontal sensors) with a COP ≥4.3 at B0/W35 (EN 14511 standard)
• Hybrid geothermal heat pumps for existing residential buildings, either as an addition or a replacement, with a COP ≥4.3 at B0/W35
• Direct expansion geothermal heat pumps with a COP ≥4.3 at E4/W35
• Heat pumps combined with a latent heat accumulator and a solar thermal collector, COP ≥4.3 at B0/W35
• Air-to-water heat pumps, including vented ones, with a COP ≥3.1 at A2/W35
• Hybrid air-to-water heat pumps for existing residential buildings, either as an addition or a replacement, with a COP ≥3.1 at A2/W35

The heat pump must fulfill these criteria:

1. The heating system should be able to supply a maximum initial temperature of 35°C (35W). If not, the heat pump’s coefficient of performance must meet the required threshold at W35 with the chosen starting temperature.
2. The rated capacity of the heat pump is to be determined at 100% output under the aforementioned conditions.
3. The heat pump’s power supply must have an electricity meter.
4. For heat pumps with invoices issued from 1 January 2024 onwards, a heat meter is required.
5. Hydraulic balancing is mandatory when installing a heat pump.
6. For existing residential buildings, heat pumps and hybrid heat pumps must have a buffer tank of at least 30 l/kW thermal, except for those with an ‘inverter’ (variable frequency drive) with speed/power modulation.
7. Geothermal or hybrid air-to-water heat pumps must operate independently (monovalent mode) and cover at least 70% of the annual heat demand in heat pump mode.
8. For air-to-water heat pumps and hybrid variants, the exterior component’s sound power level (LW) based on EN 12102 must meet these standards:
   • ≤ 5 kW: 48 dB(A)
   • 5 kW and ≤ 12 kW: 51 dB(A)
   • 12 kW: 55 dB(A)

   Systems exceeding these limits may use soundproofing to reduce noise. The sound-reduction value must be specified in the equipment’s technical data.

If the standard LW levels are not met, the noise at the nearest building site’s boundary must not exceed 40 dB(A). A noise assessment using the ‘calculatrice des émissions sonores’ (noise emission calculator) provided by the Ministry is required prior to installation.

For indoor-only heat pumps, acoustic calculations must use the Ministry’s provided tool.

Wood-Fuelled Boilers Eligibility

To qualify, wood-fuelled boilers must:

1. Have a controlled combustion system.
2. Wood-pellet or wood-chip boilers should include an automatic feeder and ignition system.
3. Wood pellet stoves integrated into a central heating system must transfer at least 50% of useful heat.
4. For staged log combustion and combination wood log-pellet boilers, a buffer tank of at least 55 l/kW rated thermal capacity is required.
5. Emission and efficiency thresholds:
   • Particle emission ≤ 8 mg/m3
   • Nitrogen oxide (NO) emission ≤ 200 mg/m3
   • Boiler production yield ≥ 90%
   • Combustion yield of pellet stove ≥ 90%

Particle filters (electrostatic or other) can be used to ensure particle emission post-commissioning does not exceed 8 mg/m3.

Heating Networks and Connections

Renewable energy must constitute over 75% of the network’s energy, proven by a certificate from the operator. Heat transfer to the building must occur via a heat transfer station.