The amendments to the Goverment Notice 52 of 2010 as amended by Goverment Notice 340 of 2015 concerns the registration of photovoltaic modules and inverters for the participation in grant schemes.

Amendments to Goverment Notice 52 of 2010 as amended by Goverment Notice 340 of 2015 -Registration of Solar Water Heaters, Solar Collectors and Photovoltaic Systems.

Government Notice 52 of 2010- Registration of Solar Water Heater, Solar Collectors and Photovoltaic Systems was published on the 15 January 2010 and introduced a scheme for the registration of solar water heaters, solar collectors and photovoltaic systems with the Regulator for Energy and Water Services. Mainly the registration scheme covers the following:

- Registration of sellers or retailers of solar water heaters, solar collectors and photovoltaic systems;

- Registration of equipment including certification of equipment and evidence of compliance with specified standards.

Government Notice 52 of 2010 was amended by Government Notice 340 of 2015. The main changes are as follows:

1. The certificate shall be valid at the time of registration and shall have an expiry date. In the case where a certificate does not have an expiry date, the modules will be listed for expiry 3 years from the date of issue of the certificate.

2. Installations shall be carried out by installers certified in accordance with Government Notice 404 of 2013 of the 14th May, 2013 for the installation of the relevant technology. Retailers shall notify the Regulatory of the installers and engineers with whom they have a contractual relationship. R

3. Inverters shall be accompanied by a letter from the distribution system operator (Enemalta plc) stating that the inverter model meets the certification, testing and connection requirements as specified in the network code. Until such time that the network code includes such provisions, the following shall apply:

- as from the 1 May 2015, inverters shall be provisionally registered if they are certified by the third party certifying body as compliant with MSA EN 50438 or an equivalent¹ thereof when so considered by the Malta Standards Authority. G83/2 certification will be considered as equivalent to EN50438. In the case of inverters that do not fall within the scope of MSA EN 50438, G59/3 certification by a third party certifying body shall be accepted.

- inverters registered as part of PV systems with the Authority up to the 30 April 2015 shall continue to be such registered until the 31 December 2015, following which new registration shall be required.

The registration scheme is one of the measures to encourage better use of the energy generated in Malta through the use of technologies that reduce the use of energy or use of renewable sources of energy. Only equipment and retailers or sellers registered with the Regulator for Energy and Water Services may participate in grant schemes administered by the Regulator for Energy and Water Services

The publication of this scheme was subject to public consultation on a national level and was notified to the EU Commission in accordance with the requirements of Directive 98/34/EC.

The current notification concerns a proposal to amend Government Notice 52 to introduce the following:

1. The introduction of a new equipment being the Heat Pump Water Heater.

2. The certification of such equipment of in terms of MSA EN16147 or Heat Pump Keymark Certification.