Qualit'EnR: which RGE qualifications to apply for

“I want to become RGE.” The sentence comes up at every first contact, and it already contains the methodological error. RGE is not a box to tick: it is a mark that attaches to a specific qualification, matching a specific technology. Before filing anything, the real question is: which qualification, for which work, and how many at once?

In the renewable-energy field, the reference body is Qualit’EnR, an association founded in 2006. Its catalogue is organised by technology. Here is how to read it — and how to avoid over-applying.

The catalogue, technology by technology

Qualification	What it covers
Qualisol	Solar thermal: solar-powered heating and domestic hot water
QualiPV	Photovoltaics: solar electricity generation
Qualibois	Wood energy: wood-fired heating and hot water
QualiPAC	Heat pumps and thermodynamic water heaters
Certification Forage	Geothermal drilling
Chauffage+	Condensing boilers, gas micro-cogeneration
Ventilation+	Dual-flow mechanical ventilation
Recharge Elec+	Electric-vehicle charging infrastructure

Two observations on this table. First, it reaches beyond strict renewable energy: Chauffage+ and Ventilation+ cover high-performance systems that generate no renewable energy — a sign of the catalogue’s gradual extension towards all equipment in the high-performance home. Second, Recharge Elec+ lands on ground where regulation already requires a qualification issued by an authorised body to install a charging point rated above 3.7 kW, under decree no. 2017-26 of 12 January 2017 — a subject covered in our article on the IRVE qualification.

One qualification per technology: what it really means

There is no generic “renewable energy” qualification. Each line of the catalogue is a full application: a framework, training for a technical referent, an assessment of the file, site audits, a four-year cycle and fees.

A company installing both heat pumps and photovoltaics therefore runs two parallel processes. That is a constraint on the calendar as much as on the budget: if two technical referents must be trained, two available course sessions are needed, and processing only starts once the file is complete.

Hence a simple rule that saves months: start from what you invoice, not from what you might sell. Pull out your last twenty-four months of invoices, sort them by technology, and only apply for the qualifications matching real volume. A qualification obtained “just in case” costs money, must be maintained and audited — and returns nothing if no project uses it.

The photovoltaic trap: electrical and building

QualiPV is the qualification that most often catches out newcomers, because it splits into modules with different logics:

• an electrical strand, tiered by power rating (up to 36 kVA, then up to 500 kVA);
• a building strand, covering mechanical mounting and roof weatherproofing.

The building strand is not self-sufficient: to run a photovoltaic project end to end, a firm needs the matching electrical strand. In practice, a roofing company that qualifies “for solar” with the roof module alone will not be able to run the complete project — it will have to extend its qualification or work jointly with a qualified electrician. Better to settle that point before selling the first job than in front of a customer waiting for grid connection.

What the body checks, whatever the field

The criteria are not specific to Qualit’EnR: they derive from the French order of 1 December 2015 on the qualification criteria required to benefit from energy-renovation subsidies, amended several times since — notably by the order of 24 December 2020, then by the order of 23 June 2026. That is why requirements look similar from one qualification body to another:

1. An activity consistent with the work applied for;
2. Insurance explicitly covering the technology — professional public liability and, where applicable, the French ten-year structural warranty (garantie décennale). The leading cause of blocked files, and the most avoidable;
3. A trained technical referent whose competence is verified over time — see our articles on the technical referent’s obligations and on renewing that validity;
4. Recent project references evidenced by detailed quotes, invoices and completion certificates;
5. Administrative and social-security compliance of the company.

Underneath, the scheme addresses a well-documented economic problem. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet, in a review published in 2020 in Energy Economics (“Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to energy savings in the building sector”), shows that energy efficiency behaves as a credence good: its quality is never fully revealed to the buyer, even long after purchase, which feeds adverse selection and moral hazard on the renovation market (see the study). A household cannot check for itself whether its heat pump is correctly sized. Third-party qualification is the mechanism that offsets that asymmetry — and the reason access to public money is conditioned on it.

Qualit’EnR, Qualibat, Qualifelec: allocate, don’t arbitrate

Choosing the body is not a commercial preference but a matter of field:

• Qualit’EnR: renewable energy and high-performance home systems;
• Qualibat: all construction trades;
• Qualifelec: electrical, energy and digital engineering.

A multi-trade firm can hold qualifications from several of them, each in its own field. Our dedicated comparison — which RGE qualification body to choose — sets out the allocation criteria.

How many qualifications in year one?

A field answer, to adjust to your size: one, sometimes two. A first qualification takes you through the whole journey — referent training, application, processing, first site audit — and teaches you what the scheme actually expects. Adding the second afterwards takes far less energy, because the cross-cutting items (insurance, compliance, project documentation) are already in order.

Companies that file four applications at once usually end up with four files blocked on the same badly worded insurance certificate.

Take action

List your invoices from the last twenty-four months, translate them into technologies, and keep the one or two qualifications that carry your actual turnover. Then check that your insurance certificates explicitly name those technologies — the cheapest action, and the one that unblocks the most files. The detail of criteria, steps and the audit cycle is on our Qualit’EnR page.