Slovenia

• 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.

• Sonnenkraft: “We Have a Responsibility to Innovate and Develop Solar Energy”- With the expansion to the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Sonnenkraft’s network of sales offices now spans across nine countries. When adding the company’s partnerships in other markets, the manufacturer is among the solar thermal businesses with the most extensive market coverage across Europe. Solarthermalworld.org spoke to Magnus Wallin (left), who has been Director of new and emerging markets in Sonnenkraft since 2008, and Torben Sørensen (right), CEO of SolarCAP since 2010 (the Danish holding company of Sonnenkraft – among other companies) who came from a position as CEO of Faber and Benthin Group (subsidiaries of VKR Holding), about the market potential in different European countries and the company’s future growth strategy.
  Photos: Sonnenkraft
• Austria: IEE Project So-Pro Comes to Successful Close in September 2011-

  After running for 28 months, the IEE So-Pro project to develop and promote solar process heat ended in September 2011. Project Leader Christiane Egger was able to present a successful programme at the Estec 2011 in Marseilles: More than 90 energy screenings in various industrial companies, about 160 persons trained, 990 participants of round-table events and conferences, 21 publications in 5 languages, 7 pilot projects in operation and about 10 in the pipeline. For the complete interview with Christiane Egger, click here.

• ECO Fund offers incentives or low-interest loans-

  The Slovenian government's support of renewable energies stands on two pillars: low-interest loans and incentives. The organisation to administer both of them is the Environmental Public Fund (ECO Fund). A collector area of 15,000 m² have profited from the support scheme so far this year.

• Widening the Thermal Solar Energy Exploitation by the Successful Models (2011)-

  Running until 2012, “Widening the Thermal Solar Energy Exploitation by the Successful Models" (WidetheSee) is a project developed by 11 South-Eastern European countries and co-financed by the EU. It aims at promoting the usage of solar thermal technologies for domestic hot water appliances in the context of European policies concerning renewable energy sources and the reduction of fossil fuel dependence.

• ESTIF Statistics at Intersolar: Highs and Lows in the European Solar Thermal Market-

  More detailed market figures can be found in this year’s ESTIF booklet: The 16-page market report is going to be published at the Intersolar Europe in Munich. For the first time, the report will include a map showing key figures as well as articles with background information on solar cooling and large solar thermal systems. Source: ESTIF

• Market Report for Enlarging Solar Thermal Systems in Multi-Family-Houses and Hotels in Europe (2007)-

  Solarge is a European co-operation project promoting the installation of collective solar thermal systems (CSTS) with collector areas of 30m2 and larger. The project looks in particular to multi-family buildings, hotels, public and social buildings. This report, which has been revised in 2007, compiles and assesses data relative to 8 national CSTS markets.

  The research looked, among other points, to the level of development of the national solar thermal market and to what extent the political and legislative framework hampers or promotes the development of CSTS.

• Germany: International Training Seminar Solar Process Heat in Munich-

  While solar heat for domestic and service applications shows increasing market shares across Europe, solar process heat seems still very much in its infancy. In principle, the potential is enormous: About 30% of the total industrial heat demand requires temperature levels below 100°C, which can be met by commercially available solar thermal collectors. The international training seminar Solar Process Heat, which takes place as an official side event of the Intersolar Europe in Munich on 9 June 2011, will offer information and know-how on solar thermal system design for solar process heat installations.
  Source: www.solar-process-heat.eu

• Germany: T*Sol simulates Air Collector Systems -

  Air collector systems of Grammer can now be simulated and planned with the new version 5.0 of T*SOL Pro, the dynamic simulation programme for the design and planning of solar thermal systems, developed by German company Valentin Software. The programme is the result of a close collaboration with German air collector manufacturer Grammer Solar.
  Figure: Valentin

• 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.
• 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.

• Record Year 2008: Global Market Growth of 35 %-

  In 2008, the global solar thermal market grew by a significant 35%. The main reasons behind such a strong upward trend were the high growth rates of glazed water collectors in China (+35 %), Europe (+63 %) and North America (+42 %). Graphic: AEE Intec

• 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.

• Slovenia: ECO Fund Issuing Grants and Low-interest Loans-

  Franc Beravs, CEO of ECO Fund, Slovenia, is proud to support renewable energies: “If you plan to install a solar thermal system or a better insulation, you can choose between a low-interest loan and a non-refundable financial incentive.”
  Source: www.finance-on.net

• 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.
• Slovenia: Coloured Air Collectors Replacing Typical Building Facades-

  A demonstration system for an air collector façade: 1.5 years ago, the Slovenian company Solar Thermo Sistems STS Inc. covered one part of the façade of the Technopark III building in Celje, Slovenia, with 88 m² of air collectors. Photo: STS