Denmark

• USA: Solar Army Guide recommends optimal System Configurations-

  Dr. Alexander Zhivov of the US Army Corps of Engineers presented the recently developed US Army Guide on Central Solar Water Heating Systems at the Intersolar North America conference in the middle of July 2011 (see attached presentation). The speaker is Senior Principal Investigator at the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) of the US Army and Project Manager of the Solar Guide. The 321-page study analyses the potential and technical feasibility of domestic hot water production in US Army facilities, such as barracks, dining facilities, hospitals or gyms.
  Photo: US Army

• Europe: Heineken Brewery to Install Three Big Solar Plants-

  The famous beer brand Heineken has just placed an order for three big solar thermal plants that will produce the heat required for the brewery’s industrial processes at different company sites. Two of these systems will be installed at breweries – one in Valencia, Spain, and one in Göß, Austria - and one will be set up at a malting plant in Vialonga, Portugal. The photo shows beer bottles on their way into the tunnel pasteuriser at the Valencia brewery.
  Photo: AEE INTEC

• 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.

• Large-Scale Solar District Heating in Denmark-

  802 collectors mounted in only three months: the inauguration of the latest solar district heating system by the Danish collector manufacturer Arcon Solvarme took place in the town of Gram in June this year. Photo: Arcon

• 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
• 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

• Denmark: New BATEC Owners Supply Collectors and Coating-

  Shaking hands with arms crossed: The former owner of BATEC Solar, Emanuel Brender (middle), will continue to support the Danish company’s new owners Lars Sabroe Thomsen (left) and Michael Junge. A respective purchase contract was signed in August 2011.

• 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

• Solar District Heating – Macro Analysis Report (2011)-

• RHC Platform Annual Conference 2012, Copenhagen- The Third Annual Conference of the European Technology Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling will take place from 26 to 27 April in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since 2008 all major European stakeholders from the biomass, geothermal and solar thermal sectors – including the related cross-cutting industries – have come together in the European Technology Platform on Renewable Heating & Cooling (RHC-Platform) to define a common strategy for increasing the use of renewable energy technologies for heating and cooling.
• Success Factors in Solar District Heating (2010)-

  The 'SDHtake-off - Solar District Heating in Europe' project is a EU-funded project (under the European Commission Programme IEE Intelligent Energy Europe)supporting the market rollout of solar district heating in Europe. It started on July 2009 and runs for a period of three years. This document is one of its deliverables, describing the development of SDH capacities in Europe as a result of the existing policies and incentives.

• Italy: District Heating Sector shows great Interest in Solar Thermal-

  On 29 and 30 September, the project partners of the EU project SDHtake-off met for a workshop during the GeoThermExpo in Ferrara, Italy. “All the big players in district heating in Italy joined our meeting,” project coordinator Thomas Pauschinger from German research centre Solites says. He sees that as an indicator for the growing interest of the district heating industry in solar thermal applications. The Italian town Serrazzano (Photo) might soon have a solar district heating system.
  Photo: Geo Energy Service

• Canada/Denmark: Cooperation between Enerconcept and Solarventi-

  Canadian air collector manufacturer Enerconcept uses Danish know-how for the industrial version of its Luba collectors. On 1 July, CEO Christian Vachon (left) entered into an agreement with the owner of Danish company Solarventi, Hans Jørgen Christensen, allowing Enerconcept to use an air collector patent of the Scandinavians. The innovative technology has already been implemented in a major project in Quebec City.
  Photo: Stephanie Banse

• Trainenergy Project. Module 9. Renewable Energy Systems (2011)-

  The Trainenergy project ran from September 2009 to September 2011, with the objective to produce a training programme about the EU Energy Performance of Building and the Energy End-Use Efficiency and Energy Services Directives for tradesmen in the construction industry. The project was run in Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Spain and Denmark. This module presents the best renewable sources that offer heating at virtually zero carbon emissions, solar water heating being the first technology to be assessed.

• Combisol Project: „Solar combi systems are gaining market share“-

  In December 2010, the Solar Combisystems Promotion and Standardisation (CombiSol) project ended after running for three full years. The aim of the project was to expand the market development of Solar Combi Systems (SCS), which provide both space heating and domestic hot water, and to promote an improvement of the quality of systems installed. Project partners were the National Institute of Solar Energy – Education (INES Education), France, the Institute of Thermodynamics and Thermal Process Engineering (ITW) of the University of Stuttgart, Germany, French Environment and Energy Management Agency ADEME, PlanEnergi, Denmark, the Committee Renewable Energy at the Institute for Sustainable Technologies (AEE), Austria, and Dalarna University, Sweden.

• Finland: In-line Coating Machine for complete Direct-Flow Absorbers-

  A full aluminium direct-flow absorber with a newly developed coating from Finland won one of the three Solar Thermal Intersolar Awards at the Intersolar 2011 in Munich, Germany. The photo shows the respective in-line coating machine by Finnish company Savo-Solar Oy. In cooperation with the Danish company Hydro Aluminium Precision Tubing, both companies were able to impress the jury with the new developed “Savo-Solar Al-MPE” absorber. The other two prizes went to Vetter Gesellschaft für Medizinische Datentechnik, Bio- und Umwelttechnik mbH, Germany, for developing a parabolic trough collector which opens up a diverse range of installation possibilities, and to Swedish company Absolicon Solar Concentrator for a PVT collector combining solar power generation with the use of solar heat.
  Photo: Savo-Solar Oy

• 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).

• Denmark: Solar District Heating Capacity increases 5-fold -

  Solar heat is penetrating Denmark’s district heating networks at an unprecedented rate: Around 90,000m² of collector area (63 MW_th) are going to be connected to the country’s networks in 2011. The map shows the existing and planned solar district heating systems in Denmark, including the installed or planned collector area. The Danish consulting and engineering company PlanEnergi was responsible of drafting the map in the framework of Task 45 “Large Solar Heating/Cooling Systems, Seasonal Storage, Heat Pumps”. The task was started in January 2011 by the International Energy Agency’s Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (IEA SHC), which will run until December 2013.
  Source: PlanEnergi

• UAE: Dubai with two Greek Solar Thermal Installations above 1,000 m²-

  Greek manufacturer Sole has already completed its second large-scale solar thermal project in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The company installed a 1,026 m² (0.72 MWth) solar thermal system at the newly constructed Dubai Sports Complex, which provides the sports facilities with hot sanitary and swimming pool water. The photo shows Sole´s Managing Director, Vangelis Lamaris, testing the stability of the collector field.
  Photo: Sole

• 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.

• Solar Thermal Heating User Guide (2007)-

• 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.

• „Vietnam is a purely commercial market with no subsidies“-

  Danish company Sunmark A/S has run a collector factory in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, since 2006. Over the years, the factory has been expanded to 14,000 m² and is currently employing 100 people. Most of the collector production output, an integral part of every Sunmark turnkey energy solution, is shipped back to Europe. Solarthermalworld.org spoke with Hans Grydehøj, CEO and one of the two founders and owners of Sunmark, about market development in Vietnam and Denmark.

• Heat Plan Denmark (2009)-

  This document explains a study carried out by the company Rambøll Denmark and the Aalborg University about the Danish district heating market and technologies. The study was presented at the District Energy Climate Summit held parallel to the COP 15, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that took place in Denmark in December 2009. The document reviews Danish policies, legislations and political targets set in the past to what regards the use of renewables. It also mentions different district heating projects with geothermal, CHP, solar thermal and others.

• Large Scale Solar District Heating in Denmark (2010)-

  This is a presentation made by the company PlanEnergi during the World Sustainable Energy Days that took place in Austria in March 2010.

  The document goes through the development of solar district heating in Denmark, the installed systems, the prices of the equipments, among other parameters that confirm the successful development of this technology in Denmark. Some of the districts where solar thermal was implemented are Ulsted, Nordby, Braedstrup, Marstal, just to give some examples.

• District Heating in Denmark (2009)-

  This is a presentation of the Managing Director of the Danish Board of District Heating (DBDH), Mr. Jes B. Christensen on the district heating sector in Denmark. The presentation gives detailed information on the Danish district heating market in Denmark, since the first years in the 70s until nowadays, with references to the legal framework and the government incentive schemes. These slides also show how district heating has helped reduce CO2 emissions and make Denmark a key example for energy self-sufficiency in Europe.

• Renewables for Heating and Cooling (2007)- This document, prepared by the International Energy Agency, comes as a follow-up of the 2006 seminar “Renewable heating and cooling – from RD&D to deployment technology and policy” aimed at exploring guidelines and policy initiatives to boost technology development and market deployment for renewable heating and cooling (REHC).
• 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

• Solar Thermal Components Adapted to Common Building Standards – SCAS (2007)-

  This document is the final report of the project "Solar Thermal Components Adapted to Common Building Standards", involving different universities in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Latvia (Technical University of Denmark, SERC, University of Oslo, Riga Technical University).

• Foundation to Support Proliferation of Solar Keymark Quality Standard -

  

  The Solar Keymark Network is about to establish a foundation to support the further proliferation of this quality standard. The reason for this decision can be traced back to a change in the definition of types and sub types by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and its subsequent reduction in the fees at the beginning of this year.

• Barriers to Technology Diffusion: the Case of Solar Thermal Technologies (2006)-

  This joint paper from the OECD and IEA (October 2006) looks into the different barriers that exist which prevent solar thermal technologies to deliver its real potential. Next to listing the barriers, the document also looks into means to overcome these, the existing technologies & markets and identifies best practices which can be used by policy makers in both industrialised and developing countries.

  Three barriers to diffusion are analysed in more detail:

  (1) Technical barriers,

  (2) Economic barriers and

• Task 43: Worldwide Harmonisation of Solar Rating and Certification Procedures -

  The international harmonisation of norms is advancing: On behalf of operating agent Jan Erik Nielsen from Plan Energi, experts are working on the alignment of EN and ISO norms under Task 43 of the Solar Heating & Cooling Programme managed by the International Energy Agency.
  Photo: ITW

• Intersolar Europe Conference 2010: 24 Speakers from 9 different Countries-

  

  Solar thermal professionals from all over the world will once again gather in Munich, Germany, to attend the international solar trade fair Intersolar 2010, which has just recently been renamed to Intersolar Europe. Its German organizer, the Solar Promotion GmbH, announced record-breaking registration figures of 1,700 exhibitors and 60,000 visitors.

• Stirling Engine, Solar & Efficient Heat for Eco-village in Hjortshøj (2009)-

  Mr Gunnar Boye Olesen from INFORSE-Europe made this presentation during the INFORSE-Europe European Sustainable Energy NGO Seminar Artefact held in Germany in November 2009.

  This short document explains the concept of the eco-village "Andelssamfundet i Hjortshøj", near Århus, Denmark, created in 1991, where solar heating systems were installed.

  Until 2002 the heating was provided by a wood pellet boiler, but in 2002 it was decided to increase the heating station with a wood-chip boiler and a stirling engine for combined heat and power production.

• Solar Thermal e-Learning: Education without a Classroom-

  Electronic »e-Learning« programmes for solar heating are beginning to gain popularity with training centres in the UK. These are designed to assist training centres in teaching solar domestic hot water installation techniques to apprentices and engineers. Source: www.elearning-shop.co.uk

• Large Solar Thermal Systems: Development and Perspectives (2008)-

  Currently there are around 120 large scale solar heating plants with more than 500 m2 of solar collectors in operation in Europe, 10 of which are located in Denmark. The first Danish plant was built in 1987 with 1,000 m2 of ground mounted collectors. Today it still remains active, producing heating for the citizens. The Danish government has set very high targets for district heating in the upcoming years. In the “Strategy for solar thermal”, the Danish Energy Agency has set an ambitious target of 10% of district heating load to be covered by solar thermal in 2030.

• 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.

• Solar Energy Activities in IEA Countries 2005 - This 2005 report on solar energy activities in IEA (International Energy Agency) Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (SHC) countries provides an overview of national activities and key trends of a total of 13 countries. Detailed information is offered on national solar activities, notably on the status of government policies, funding levels, R&D, technology advances, and commercial development. Each report further concludes with an outlook for solar over the next five years in that country.
• Hungary: Minitec delivers a Laser-welding System to Velux-

  Laser-welding machine with a horizontal rotation table: This machine by the Switzerland manufacturer Minitec was ordered by the Danish Velux Group for its collector factory in Fertöd, Hungary. The worker can control the welding operation inside the machine on screen, while placing another pipe register and absorber on the rotation table.

• 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.

• IRENA: Headquarters in the United Arab Emirates-

  “It was very important to us to offer IRENA a value proposition  by engaging with developing and developed nations alike,” his Highness Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of UAE, explains the choice of building the IRENA headquarters in his country. Photo: Worldnews

• Solar Heating Systems for Houses (2003)-

  This book from 2003 presents the collaborative work of international experts from research, industry and academia in the IEA solar heating and cooling programme's Task 26, Solar Combisystems

  The book details methods for analysing and optimising combisystems for different house types and introduces standardised classification and evaluation processes and design tools for these systems. Furthermore the book addresses the need for guidelines in selecting and designing the appropriate system according to the specific needs of the building and the local environment.

• 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.
• EU Project: Introducing Solar District Heating to the Market-

  18 experts from twelve different institutions and associations met in Stuttgart, Germany, to launch the EU project SDHtake-off. This team is to develop and introduce a new approach and new instruments for a Europe-wide market introduction of solar district heating.
  Photo: Solites

• A Solar Field of 7,350 m2 - and a Heat & Power Plant-

  The quickest installation possible: It took only one month to set up the 525 flat plate collectors, each with a 14 m² surface, in the open countryside. The 7,350 m² solar thermal system feeds the district heating system of the Danish town of Tørring. Photo: Sunmark

• District heating: fast installation and low operation costs- Fast installation: The team from the Danish company Sunmark mounted around 600 m² of collector area every day. Photo: Sunmark
  

• Front-runners of solar district heating- Feeding directly into the district heating system of the Austrian city of Graz: The collector fields are mounted on four different hall roofs belonging to the AEVG, a municipal waste disposal company. Photo: S.O.L.I.D. / Oberländer
  

• Solar Thermal Energy: Harnessing the Power of the Sun-
  The video shows the use of solar thermal energy for heating in Europe. Examples from Denmark and Spain show the use in different climates. Interviews with users and manufacturers give a good overview of this clean energy technology. The video is provided for free by the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign of the European Union.