GREEN MATTERS
A2L –a match made in TEV
Up until now, the vast majority of small-scale refrigeration systems are still being installed using old A1 refrigerants such as R448A and R449A. However, with the F-gas quota, we all know that these refrigerants are not the long-term solution. Chris Chisman, technical director for TEV asks if now is the time to offer systems with the alternative A2L R454A, R454C and R455A refrigerants?
T
here is no doubt that a switch away from A1 refrigerants will require an initial increase in installation costs for end users and I believe all
businesses genuinely want to choose greener options where they can. But there still needs to be a strong business case for this initial extra cost outlay to be approved, especially while cash is short in many sectors due to Covid19.
The
F-Gas regulations creates a driver for change with the shortened product life of any new A1 refrigeration installations. But how expensive will the old A1 refrigerants become in the future? And how long will it take? No one can really know for certain. However, we do know that we are at the start of a new phase down, with a 29% quota reduction this year. We can also already see that the pressure on refrigerant quota will be much more acute in the UK than in Europe. Importing of pre-charged equipment into the UK has already taken up a large proportion of the available UK refrigerant quota. This has already driven the price for UK quota 10 times above that of its European equivalent. This pressure on UK quota is not expected to relent, in fact further pressure is expected for the following reasons. Firstly, the Brexit effect. The UK quota allowance is
now separate from that of the EU27, with 2 separate systems. This means that some refrigerant quota can be counted within both jurisdictions. For instance, equipment manufactured and charged with refrigerant either in the UK or Europe has quota allocated. If these pre-charged products are shipped over the EU/UK border, then a pre- charged equipment quota again needs to be allocated within the destination jurisdiction. With the UK’s proportion of quota being smaller than that of the EU, this effect disproportionately effects the UK more. Secondly Illegal imports and again Brexit. It has been widely publicised that there has been a large amount of illegal refrigerant entering the EU prior to Brexit. This has been suppressing the cost of refrigerant quota. Before
36 June 2021
Brexit, this refrigerant could freely pass through into the UK once within Europe. However, this is no longer the case and logic has it that protecting the UK Island borders should be much easier than that of the EU27’s long eastern land borders.
Thirdly the expected growth of Heatpumps. It has been well documented how heat pumps are expected to become the main alternative to gas boilers, as Britain aims for net zero emissions.
In the short term, many of these systems
will use R410a or R32 refrigerant and use up more of the UK quota.
The EU F-gas regulations were previously the most
stringent in the world, exceeding by far the global quota requirements of the later introduced Kigali amendment to the Montreal protocol. With the UK quota situation now being far tighter than the EU, change will be driven here first before anywhere else in the world. It is not an option to wait to see what happens elsewhere. Previously, the only alternative available was CO2
as a
refrigerant. This is being used in larger scale supermarket installations, however the uptake for small scale applications is slow. The market for small scale cellar cooling, cold room and cabinet systems is fiercely competitive. This makes the task for even the most forward thinking of contractor to convince an end user of the benefits of CO2
over current A1
systems close to impossible given the initial cost increase when compared to a potential competitors A1 refrigeration system offering. Up until recently, there wasn’t much A2L equipment available on the market, but that is no longer the case. There are now various A2L products available from multiple manufacturers, including compressors, condensing units and components. This also includes a complete range of fully matched CellarMatch cellar coolers and SysteMatch cold room systems from Marstair, using sub 150 GWP A2L refrigerants. There are refrigerated cabinets becoming available suitable for A2Ls which can easily be matched using
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