Poland

• Poland: Solar Forum 2012 Debate on How to Sustain Growth Rate-

  According to the market statistics of the Institute for Renewable Energy (IEO), the total installed solar thermal collector area in Poland at the end of 2011 was 904,000 m2 (633 MWth). This is just 6.5 % of the 14 million m² (9.8 GW_th) target that the National Renewable Energy Action Plan said to reach in 2020. Speakers and participants of the 5th Solar Energy Industry Forum were now debating in mid-April on how to best sustain the growth rate and reach the ambitious target. Around 150 people attended Cracow’s one-day event organised by the IEO.
  

• Poland: Tremendous Growth in 2011 -

  Last year, the Polish solar thermal market exceeded all expectations: While Poland became one of the fastest growing markets in Europe, the installed collector area grew by 70 % to 248,000 m² (174 MW_th), according to Aneta Więcka, solar thermal market expert at the Institute for Renewable Energy (IEO).

• Europe: SDHplus Gathers Experts and Newcomers to Solar District Heating-

  Just after the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) project SDHtake-off will have ended in June 2012, there will be a follow-up project called SDHplus. Six new countries will join it: Spain, France, Lithuania, Croatia, Poland and Slovenia. Experienced partners from the former SDHtake-off project will help them promote solar district heating by launching awareness-raising campaigns and assessing the potential of their heat supply network. SDHplus comes with a budget of EUR 1.8 million from the IEE fund and will run over three years.

• Bulgaria: Sunny Mood at SEE Solar 2012 in Sofia-

  While representatives from over 250 companies and 31 countries gathered at the Inter Expo Center Sofia for the 8th South-East European Solar Exhibition on 28 March, the Bulgarian government decided to cancel the highly controversial Belene Nuclear Power Plant project. Of course, the timing was only a coincidence. But still, the government’s decision could have an impact on the future development of renewable energies in Bulgaria. For years, critics of the government’s plans to set up the Belene plant for an estimated EUR 10 billion feared that the project could tie funds urgently needed to improve the country’s poor energy efficiency and leave too little money for green energy projects, such as solar thermal installations on the roofs of public buildings. Now, with a definite end to the idea of another nuclear power plant, market players in Bulgaria hope for new growth in the sector of alternative energies.
  Photo: Frank Stier

• Poland: “Wind of change” blowing for Solar Thermal-

  While in most of Europe the solar heating and cooling market has been suffering from a decline in sales since 2009, Poland has experienced a slight growth in its national industry. According to data gathered by ESTIF (European Solar Thermal Industry Federation), Poland was the 8^th largest market for solar collectors in 2010. It has not had significant lows in newly installed collector area since 2000, but still needs a big jump forward to reach the target of 20 million m² in 2020 (see chart). Solarthermalworld.org talked to Janusz Starościk, head of the Polish heating organisation SPIUG, which has made the push for solar energy part of its agenda.
  Source: IEO EC BREC

• Poland: Solar Thermal Industry Disappointed with Renewable Energy Law-

  The draft of the Renewable Energy Sources Law from December 2011, which was supposed to give momentum to the solar thermal market in Poland, has drawn heavy criticism from industry officials and renewable energy organisations alike. Janusz Starościk, President of the Association of Manufacturers and Importers of Heating Appliances (SPIUG), states that, “passing the law in the current form will pose a serious threat to the solar thermal sector in Poland”.

• 5th Polish Solar Energy Forum 2012, Cracow -

  The 5th Polish Solar Energy Forum 2012 will take place in Cracow on 18 April 2012. The forum is organised by the Institute for Renewable Energy (EC BREC IEO) in Warszawa under the patronages of all relevant governmental institutions. The Forum will offer the opportunity to strengthen and formalize cooperation between the production and installation companies of the solar energy sector in Poland and the EU. The Forum addresses primarily to manufacturers, distributors and installers of solar thermal systems and public and industrial investors.
  This year’s topics include:

• Poland: Draft of Renewable Energy Sources Law-

  On 22 December 2011, the Polish Ministry of Economy presented the draft of a new Renewable Energy Sources Law. It includes a renewable building obligation for the private and public sector, as well as a one-time tax deduction for private solar thermal customers (in addition to the grants offered by the Polish National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, NFOŚiGW). The new regulations are thought to boost the Polish solar thermal market in the long term. At first, the RES Law was said to be introduced on July 1, 2012. However, delays in legislative procedures will most likely postpone the new regulations to later this year, so that they are going to take full effect in 2013.
  Source: Wikipedia

• 4th International Clean Energy Trade Show – Cenerg 2012, Warsaw- The 4^th International Clean Energy Trade Show – Cenerg 2012 will take place from 12 to 14 March in Warsaw. Among others the exhibition includes heating systems based on RES like boilers, heaters and fireplaces, heat pumps, solar panels, air-conditioning systems and  geothermal energy. In 2011 Cenerg attracted more than 11,800 visitors.
• ENEX - New Energy 2012, Kielce - The 10^th Fair of Renewable Sources of Energy ENEX - New Energy will take place in Kielce from 6 to 8 March 2012. ENEX creates the possibility to present power engineering and energy generation appliances and equipment, the latest system technologies, network components, solar collectors, wood fired furnaces, heat radiators, biomass boilers and vehicles which run on bio-fuel. In 2012 ENEX attracted almost 150 companies, among them exhibitors from Germany, Czech Republic, Italy and Sweden.
• Greenpower 2012, Poznan- Greenpower 2012 will take place in Poznan form 8 to 10 May 2012. The exhibition includes solar energy, wind energy, hydro energy, geothermal energy, solid and liquid biofuels, biogas and energy-efficient technologies. Last year’s edition of Greenpower attracted almost 80 companies from 7 countries and was visited by 10,500 attendees.
• Switzerland: Solar Thermal System Funding in 5 Polish Regions -

  The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has announced its strategy of how to support the solar thermal sector in Poland. Five Polish regions will receive a total of Swiss Franc (CHF) 55 million, mainly to subsidise solar thermal technology. Small parts of the budget, however, will also be spent on photovoltaic systems. By using their own financial and other resources, all private households and public facilities participating in these projects will have a substantial contribution in the programme's success . Seco plans to select four more solar thermal projects and provide additional funds of CHF 50 million to set them up.

• Workshop: “Quality Assurance in Solar Thermal Heating and Cooling Technology”, Warsaw- PIMOT, the Polish Automotive Industry Institute (www.pimot.pl) and ESTIF will hold a workshop about the Solar Keymark and quality assurance in Europe. This workshop will take place on 14 December 2011, from 14h to 17h30, in Warsaw, at PIMOT’s facilities. This workshop is aimed at participants from the solar thermal industry (manufacturers, distributors, installers) and from national or local authorities.
• Germany/Poland: Hydro Aluminium Pipes as Standard Product soon -

  Norwegian aluminium producer Norsk Hydro ASA announced its first clients to order aluminium tubes for the production of absorbers in a press release at the end of January. In the press release, the corporation named German collector manufacturer Solarbayer GmbH and Polish collector manufacturer Hewalex as the first to do so.
  Photo: Hydro

• Poland: Growing Demand to fund Solar Thermal Systems- By 15 October 2011, a total of 11,386 applications have been submitted by banks within the residential subsidy programme of the Polish National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFOŚiGW). The monthly application rate has increased tremendously - from 15 applications in the starting month September 2010 to 1,658 in September 2011 almost one year later. The figure from October 2011 in the chart above represents only half the month, which means this year’s total collector area can be expected to climb even steeper.
  Source: NFOŚiGW
  
• Poland: Press-Glas invests in Solar Glass-

  Polish glass producer Press-Glas has begun constructing a new glass processing factory in Radomsko near Lodz city in central Poland, which will manufacture solar glass covers for solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic models. The new plant is expected to deliver its first shipments in spring 2012. Press-Glas is already running four glass factories in Poland. The company employs 1,500 people and reached a turnover of EUR 100 million in 2010. The photo shows the magazine of basic glass panels in the Radomsko factory. Photo: Press-Glas

• IEA Study "Solar Heat Worldwide": Global Market Growth of 22 % in 2006-

  2006 was an extremely satisfying year for the global solar thermal industry. According to the new study “Solar Heat Worldwide. Markets and contribution to the Energy Supply 2006” on behalf of IEA Solar Heating & Cooling Programme the new installations grew 22 % in 2006. The authors from the Austrian research institute AEE Intec surveyed 48 countries and added up the newly installed collector area to 18.3 GWth (26.1 million m2).

• May in Europe: Four Solar Thermal Events Within One Month Alone-

  There are a lot of places in Europe during the month of May where you can listen to highly regarded solar thermal speakers. Four solar thermal conferences will then take place in three different countries: Germany, Italy and Poland.

  Solar thermal symposium

  6^th to 8^th of May 2009 in Staffelstein, Southern Germany

• Poland: Rapid Growth in 2011-

  The stagnation in the Polish solar thermal market in 2010 seems already ancient history: The Polish Institute of Renewable Energy - EC BREC (IEO) - expects the solar thermal market to grow by one third this year. “We estimate that up to 200,000 m² of solar collectors will be installed in Poland in 2011,” IEO President Grzegorz Wiśniewski (right) says. One reason for the upward trend is that the residential subsidy programme by NFOŚiGW has been gaining momentum. “At the beginning, the programme was subject to many limitations. It did not allow grants for collector systems in new homes and those generating energy for home heating systems,” Janusz Starościk (left), Head of the Association of Manufacturers and Importers of Heating Appliances (SPIUG), explains. “These barriers were removed in January 2011, which greatly increased people's interest in the programme”.
  Photo: APIHE/IEO

• Poland: Sunex to go public by September -

  Becoming a publicly traded company by September: the first step of Sunex' strategy to enter new markets and invest in a factory outside the country. The solar collector manufacturer will be listed on New Connect, the Warsaw stock market for small enterprises. In August, Sunex already sold 0.76 % of its stocks to investors through private offers, gaining about PLN 0.55 million (EUR 0.13 million). “We have decided to enter New Connect to let the market give us a valuation of our company before we get listed on the main trading floor of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE),” the company’s President, Romuald Kalyciok (see photo), explains. Further share sales are planned for 2012.
  Photo: Puls Biznesu

• Poland: various commercial Grant Programmes -

  By the end of 2010, the total surface area of solar collectors in Poland reached 655,000 m². Newly installed collector area amounted to 146,000 m², roughly 2,000 m² more than in 2009. Over the next years, the number of new solar thermal installations is thought to increase significantly because of various grants at the national and local level: The local incentive programme in Szczawnica in southern Poland has already helped in setting up more than 1,500 collectors in households (see photo).
  Photo: szczawnica.pl

• ESTEC 2011 in France: Early Bird Registration extended-

  The early bird registration for the European Solar Thermal Energy Conference (estec 2011) has been extended to 15 July. You can save around EUR 100 if you sign up for the 2-day conference before this date. It will take place in Marseilles, France, on 20 and 21 October 2011. Fees are lower for members of the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) or the French Solar Association ENERPLAN.
  Photo: ESTIF

• Poland: Collector Manufacturer Watt gets Economy Award-

  Marek Szymanski (right), Managing Director of Polish collector manufacturer Watt, received the Economy Award from the hands of Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski in Poznan on 14 June. Watt is the only renewable energy company among the four award winners which received a prize that had been suspended for a few years despite the prestige that comes with it.
  Photo: Watt

• “We were prepared for this Outcome” -

  In most of the National Renewable Energy Plans (NREAPs), solar thermal was not a priority. Only 8 countries announced significant collector area and growth rates (see news here). solarthermalworld.org asked Xavier Noyon, Secretary General of the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF), about the reasons behind this lack of consideration, and about the actions which have to be taken now.
  Photo: ESTIF

• Poland: Ambitious Industry versus Conservative Government-

  The Polish solar thermal industry exudes confident. It reached one of the highest growth rates of all European countries in recent years. Average growth has meant around 43% annually since 2001, according to Grzegorz Wisniewski , head of the Polish Institute for Renewable Energy (IEO). In 2009, the newly installed collector area amounted to an estimated 200,000 m²; the target for 2010 is 350,000 m².
  

• Poland: a Coalition Setting High Solar Thermal Targets -

  Grzegorz Wisniewski (left), President of the Institute of Renewable Energy (IEO) in Warsaw, initiated the foundation of a coalition between solar thermal manufacturers and distributors during the second Solar Energy Industry Forum in Poznań, Poland, in May this year. Photo: IEO

• The Market Potential of Micro-CHCP (2009)-

  This is a study assessing the market potential of small scale Combined Heating Cooling and Power (CHCP) in several European countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). The study is one of the final deliverables of the PolySMART Project (POLYgeneration with advanced small and medium scale thermally driven air-conditioning and refrigeration technology), an integrated project partly funded by the European Commission under 6th Framework Programme.

• Poland: Residential Support Programme to finally start-

  Long-awaited, but finally happening: Poland's launch of the subsidy scheme for residential home owners, and multi-family houses not connected to district heating systems. Run by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFOŚiGW), its start at the end of August 2010 ended a long period of transition: The last financial incentives for solar thermal installations had been paid out in 2009.

• Overview of RES-H/RES-C Support Options (2009)-

  The present report was prepared in the framework of the RES-H Policy project (Policy development for improving RES-H/C penetration in European Member States (RES-H Policy)). The aim is to provide an overview of possible policy instruments to support the development of renewable heating (RES-H) and cooling (RES-C) technologies in the different EU Member States.

• Poland: Comprehensive Market Survey-

  Flat plate collectors are still the dominating technology on the Polish solar thermal market. The share of vacuum tube collectors, however, increased from 17 to 31 % within two years. This is one of the examples of a market survey published in May 2008.  Photo: IEO

• Intersolar Speakers present latest figures of key Solar Thermal Markets-

  Several well-known speakers shared their market figures from key solar thermal markets worldwide with the audience of the Global Solar Thermal Markets session at the Intersolar Conference at the beginning of June. Whereas India and Brazil maintain high growth rates, the European solar heating and cooling sector has to again cope with a decline of now 13 % in 2010 compared to the previous year. The chart shows the developments of markets with a volume of 200,000 and 500,000 m². It is part of the 16-page brochure “Solar Thermal Markets in Europe”, which the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) presented at the Intersolar.
  Figure: ESTIF

• Launch of ISOL Navigator: Asia moves up, while Europe lags behind -

  The ISOL Navigator has been launched at the Intersolar Europe in Munich at the 8th of June. The international study presents the current and future market development in 16 key solar heating and cooling countries. The ISOL Navigator is based on the “ISOL Index”, an international business climate index developed by German agency solrico at the beginning of 2010. This ISOL index is a point-based indicator (ranging from 0 to 100 points) showing the satisfaction of solar thermal manufacturers and system suppliers with current and expected market development. Company values are averaged to obtain country and regional indices.
  Figure: solrico

• Poland: Mixed Review of the first ever residential Subsidy Scheme -

  After the first six months of the first ever residential rebate and loan programme in Poland, the industry was left with mixed feelings toward its success. On the one side, the sector welcomes the expansion of eligible technologies. Since 17 January 2011, solar combi systems which supply space heating and hot water, too, are eligible for the scheme run by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFOŚiGW). However, collector manufacturers have criticised some of the regulations which have led to a much lower subsidy rate than was promised. Whereas the NFOŚiGW announced that up to 45 % of the investment costs of the system including installation are covered by the rebate, in reality, this share decreases to 20 to 30 %.
  Photo: inwestujwkolektory.pl

• Subsidy Programme for Solar Water Heating Systems-

• Austria: Solar District Heating Workshop and Plant Visit Tour -

  Solar District Heating (SDH) is making its first step into the market. According to the website of IEE project “SDHtake-off - Solar District Heating in Europe”, experts estimate a long-term potential for solar district heat of 5% and an annual solar heat production of roughly 30 TWh_th. From 16 to 17 March 2011, the initiators of the SDHtake-off will hold a Workshop and Plant Visit Tour on solar district heating. The event will take place in Graz, Austria.

• EINSTEIN: Expert System for the Intelligent Use of Solar Thermal in the Industrial Sector- Using solar heating for industrial processes is still far away from being a standardised solution. Any industrial process has to be analysed and individual solutions have to be developed. To simplify this approach, a European Consortium developed EINSTEIN, a software tool which works out an energy efficient solution for the production process, based on renewable energy sources. This project is financed by Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) and coordinated by the Austrian research institute Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH.
• Poland: Downwind for the Solar Thermal Market- Commercial applications are on the rise in Poland: “Big building societies, hotels and hospitals are investing in solar thermal systems,” confirms export manager Jacek Paluch of the collector manufacturer Watt. Photo: Watt
  

• European Solar Days: Around 6,600 Events in 17 European Countries-

  Everything revolves around the sun: 17 European countries participate in the 3rd edition of the European Solar Days from 1 to 16 May 2010. Around 6,600 events are planned for this year’s campaign, involving several hundred thousand citizens at a local level.
  Photo: Fotostudio Pflueg

• Trans-Solar: Knowledge Transfer to 7 CEE Partner Countries -

  After running for 26 months, the European Trans-Solar project finally ended in January 2010. Its aim had been to transfer solar thermal know-how from the old EU Member States to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
  Source: www.cres.gr/trans-solar/

• Solar Thermal Applications in Eastern Europe with Guaranteed Solar Results. The East- GSR Project (2008)-

  This is the final report of the EU funded project East-GSR (2006-2008), created to support the development of the solar thermal market in 5 Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia). One of the main objectives of the project was to promote the performance guarantee approach for large solar thermal systems focusing on the example of the Guaranteed Solar Results (GSR) contract. The project was coordinated by the French Energy Agency ADEME.

• Seizing the Solar Solution: Combating Climate Change through Accelerated Deployment (2009)-

  This report was published on December 2009, parallel to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) summit taking place in Copenhagen, to bring authorities' attention to solar energy and the relevant contribution it can provide to reducing GHG emissions.

• REPAP2020: Roadmap Fixes 2020 Targets for the Solar Share in the Heating and Cooling Sector-

  Some countries in Europe have made plans for using solar energy to cover between 1 and 4% of their gross final demand of heating and cooling by 2020. The states with the most ambitious targets regarding their national sector are Portugal, Germany and France.
  Source: National RES Industry Roadmaps

• Denmark: Delivering Solar Heat at a fixed price-

  The newly founded Danish company of Nordic Clean Energy (NCE) offers operators of district and local community heating grids all over Europe a feed-in of solar heat from large collector plants at fixed prices.

• The Solar Thermal Market in Poland-

  This brief summary document of the Polish solar thermal market provides an overview going back to to 1995 and notes the importance of the national Renewable Energy Strategy from 2000 as key to the growth of the market.

  The document looks at the market factors as well as financial stimuli that are helping to increase the market share of solar thermal nationwide as well as its role in the EU's 2020 strategy.

  Read the document here 

• International Comparison of Warranty Periods granted by Collector Manufacturers-

  “How long is the warranty period of your flat plate or your vacuum tube collector?” This question was posed as part of a global solar thermal industry survey to 300 collector manufacturers from 40 different countries. Figure: solrico

• European Solar Days Kick-off Today-

  The second European Solar Days are celebrated from 15 to 22 May with more than 500.000 citizens participating in 7.000 events in 15 European countries.

• QualiCert Newsletter - December 2009- The first edition of the QualiCert Project Newsletter
  Newsletter N1 -
• GreenPower International, Poznań- GreenPower International Renewable Energy Fair with Polish Solar Thermal Industry Forum
• Potential of Solar Thermal in Europe (2009)-

  This report from 2009 has been commissioned by the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) and looks into the potential of solar thermal in the European Union. The objective of the study is to provide the European Commission and the Members States with information on how solar thermal energy can contribute to reach the renewable energy target.

• Support for the Solar Thermal Industry in Poland-

  A unique chance for the solar thermal industry in Poland: “Developing a renewable energies industry” is one of the many targets of the comprehensive “Infrastructure and Environment” programme for Poland (2007 to 2014).

• Harnessing Solar for District Energy: Europe Leading the Way- This article offers an outline to the solar district heating market in Europe and in particular outlines the trend to diurnal storage and heat-driven cooling applications. A SWOT analysis of the industry points to technical and non-technical barriers for market development, but highlights that among others combined heating and cooling offer advantages to the sector. The greatest potential for market development is foreseen for Germany, France, UK, Poland, Netherlands and Belgium. Information on centralised solar heating plants is also included.
• European Solar Days- The next European Solar Days will be celebrated from 1 to 16 May 2010 in 16 European countries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia , Spain, Switzerland, Denmark , Norway, Netherlands, UK, Belgium, Hungary, Poland and Sweden. The two weeks event is coordinated by the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) in close co-operation with the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) and supported by 24 organisations at a national and European level.
• “Security Measures Make Vacuum Tube Collector Systems More Expensive”-

  Marek Szymanski, technical department manager of the Polish collector manufacturer Watt, spoke with solarthermalworld.org about the problems they had with the vacuum tube collectors in the beginning. Photo: Watt

• Dynamic Growth Throughout the European Solar Thermal Sector -

  Estec2009 – a meeting point for solar thermal experts in Europe: Around 400 representatives of associations, as well as manufacturers, politicians and researchers discussed trends, potentials and obstacles of the solar thermal sector. Photo: Bärbel Epp

• Second Solar Industry Forum, Poznan- The first Solar Industry Forum in Poland on 13^th of May, 2008 gathered 80 participants - high level representations like presidents and executives. The forum was organized by the Institute for Renewable Energy (EC BREC IEO) in Warszawa under the patronages of all relevant governmental institutions. At this year´s forum EC BREC IEO will also present its annual data collector of the solar thermal market in Poland. So take your chance and come to the next Forum in 2009 to meet the key players of the market personally. The forum takes place during the Greenpower Fair in Poznan.
• Greenpower 2009 International Renewable Energy Fair, Poznań-

  The first edition of the Greenpower International Renewable Energy Fair will be held in Poznań on 19-21 May 2009. The fair is organised in cooperation with the Polish Economic Chamber of Renewable Energy. It covers a wide range of renewable technologies: solar thermal, photovoltaics, wind power, hydropower, geothermal, solid biofuels (biomass), liquid biofuels and biogas.

• SolPol 2008, Warsaw- SolPol is an international conference organized by the Institute of Heat Engineering, Division of Thermodynamics, Warsaw University of Technology and the Polish Solar Energy Society (ISES). Topics will be renewable energy fundametals, solar energy, geothermal energy, wind energy, hydroenergy, biomass and biofuels and energy policy.