AEE Intec

• Albania: Solar Water Heaters Project increases Market Size (2008)-

  Albanian's solar thermal testing centre: inaugurated in September 2008, managed by the Harry Fultz Institute in Tirana and financed by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
  Photo: www.entwicklung.at

• Saudi Arabia: World's Biggest Solar Thermal Plant in Operation-

  Since July, the world’s biggest solar thermal plant has gradually come into operation. It produces heat for a women’s university in Saudi Arabia, the Princess Nora Bint Abdul Rahman University inaugurated at the end of 2011. From July onwards, students and staff have been moving onto the campus and with heat demand increasing, the covers have been removed one by one from the six solar fields. The photo shows the collector field on a warehouse – the buildings in the background all belong to the university.
  Photo: AEE Intec

• Estec 2011: “We need incentive tariffs for solar thermal”-

  The crisis in the European key countries was present during the entire 5th European Solar Thermal Energy Conference (ESTEC) in Marseilles on 20 and 21 October 2011. Around 300 speakers and participants tried to deliver new ideas and concepts to get the industry back on track. At the second conference day, "plug and flow", "solar active houses", "fixed prices for end consumers" and "solar incentive tariffs" were among the key issues of a round-table discussion, which was moderated by Uwe Trenkner, a consultant based in Brussels (third from left).
  Photo: ESTIF/ Joël Assuied

• 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).

• SOLTRAIN: Solar Thermal Training in South Africa-

  Thirty seven solar water heating industry leaders and academics have just attended the third SOLTRAIN (Southern African Solar Thermal Training and Demonstration Initiative) solar thermal technical training course in Pretoria, South Africa. The training was formally opened by the regional coordinator of the programme, Professor Dieter Holm. In opening, Holm emphasized the value of the hands-on approach to the course under the guidance of a number of eminent experts in the field. The delegates represented a balanced mix from industry and academia.
  Photo: Omnibus Engineering

• New IEA Task for Solar Process Heat-

  At their meeting in June, the Executive Committee (ExCo) of the International Energy Agency (IEA) gave green light to a new task for solar process heat. The IEA-SHC (Solar Heating and Cooling) Task 49 – “Solar Process Heat for Production and Advanced Applications“ - will start in January 2012 and run for four years. The now rough outline of the task will be further specified in a second “Task Definition Meeting“ at the Solar World Congress in Kassel, Germany, on 2 September 2011. Task participants will then take the suggestions made by the ExCo to spell out the activities for solar process heat in more detail.

• Thermal Use of Solar Energy. Solar Thermal Systems & Components (2010)-

  This is an example of a training document prepared by the AEE Intec, the Institute for Sustainable Technologies in Austria. The document is part of the project SOLTRAIN (Southern Africa Solar Thermal Training and Demonstration Activities).

• Austria: Great Demand for large-scale Solar Systems Funding-

  The results have convinced the sceptics: The interest in large solar thermal systems between 100 and 2,000 m² of collector area has been enormous in Austria. 76 requests have been submitted in the framework of the incentive programme “Solar Thermal - Solar large-scale" started in June 2010. 41 applicants received consultancy by one of the participating Austrian research institutions and submitted the application documents before 15 October. The chart shows the respective application areas of the 41 proposed projects totalling 15,877 m2 of collector area.
  Figure: AEE Intec

• Mexico: Vacuum tubes in 48 % of residential Solar Water Heaters -

  The marketing campaign for solar hot water systems in the residential sector in Mexico, Procalsol (2007 to 2012), bore fruit: According to the annual market statistics of the National Association of Solar Energy (ANES), the newly installed collector area in households almost tripled from 53,183 m² in 2008 to 132,934 m² last year.

• AEE INTEC: Applications for Solar Thermal Systems (2005)-

  This fact sheet was created by AEE INTEC, the Institute for Sustainable Technologies in Austria. It provides information on the various ways solar thermal systems can be set up for water heating purposes in a variety of settings.

• SOLAIR: Survey of Available Technical Solutions and Successful Running Systems - Cross-Country Analysis-

  This paper compares existing databases of knowledge on the solar cooling applications from across Europe with SOLAIR’s own database. References are made to the SACE (Solar Air-Conditioning in Europe) project and the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (SHC) of the International Energy Agency.

  According to the Report, previous databases concluded that 70 solar cooling installations were present in Europe in 2004 with the majority residing in Germany.

  SOLAIR’s database had a different focus and therefore includes data such as:

• 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

• Saudi Arabia: Largest Solar Thermal Plant in the World with 36,305 m²-

  Three partners, one project: Representatives from all three participating companies - Millennium Energy Industries, Jordan, and Greenonetec and AEE Intec, both based in Austria - met for their kick-off meeting at the collector factory of Greenonetec.
  Photo: Greenonetec

• Eurosun 2010: Joining Forces for Europe’s biggest Solar Heating and Cooling Conference -

  All signs point to a successful conference: Experienced event organizer AEE Intec from Austria and PSE from Germany, teamed up with the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) and the members of the International Energy Agency's (IEA SHC) Solar Heating and Cooling Programme to organize this year´s Eurosun conference.

• Austria: Solar Thermal Roadmap 2020 (2009)- In order to reach the goal of 34% renewables in 2020, Austria needs to increase significantly the share of renewable heating and cooling in its energy mix. Solar Thermal can deliver an important contribution to that goal. Read document below (only available in German)
• SOLTRAIN: Southern African Solar Thermal Training and Demonstration Initiative-

  A solar thermal expert with heart and soul: Werner Weiss, Managing Director of AEE – Intec, the Institute for Sustainable Technologies from Austria, runs technical trainings and demonstration projects for solar thermal technology in several countries worldwide. Photo: Bärbel Epp

• Solar Heat – a Winner Technology for Austria-

  “The four years of climate protection programme “klima:aktiv” in Austria was the most successful programme ever”, Robert Kanduth, the chairman of Austrian Solar Thermal Association, Austria Solar, and CEO of Greenonetec, the biggest flat-plate collector manufacturer worldwide. Kanduth was upbeat about the programmes progress at his speech at the event “Solar heat – a winner technology for Austria” at the beginning of September in Gleisdorf, Austria.

• Austria: The 2008 Roadmap to Solar Thermal Success-

  A good example for solar heating: a semidetached house with a collector area of 92 m². According to the roadmap of the Austrian Institute for Renewable Technologies, AEE Intec, it is very important to support solar combi systems which supply domestic hot water and space heating.

• Ambitious Plans for Solar Thermal Technology in India-

  The Indian market of vacuum tube collectors is picking up pace: Several manufacturers of flat plate collectors have started importing tube collectors from China. So far, they possess a market share of 10 to 15 %. Photo: Sudarshan Saur

• Austria: Professor Faninger Receives Decoration for his 30 Years of Solar Research- Pioneer of renewable energies in Austria: Professor Gerhard Faninger from the University of Klagenfurt received the Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria. Photo: Bärbel Epp
  

• Process Heat Collectors - State of the Art within Task 33/IV-

  This document provides an overview into the types of process heat technology describing the technology in easy-to-understand terms, and provides information on their stage in development.

  Technologies covered are:

  Advanced Flat-plate Collectors
  Evacuated Tube Collectors
  CPC Collectors
  Parabolic Trough Collectors
  Linear Concentrating Fresnel Collectors
  Concentrating Collectors with Stationary Reflector

  The second section of the document provides an overview of installations and their operation.