UK

• TramStore21 Report: Building Sustainable and Efficient Tram Depots for Cities in the 21st Century – Solar Thermal Systems (2012)-

  This report compares experiences of solar thermal technology for the five benchmark tram depots of the TramStore21 project. For the project, five European partners – from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France and Italy – have worked since 2008 at pooling existing best practices and know-how for the construction of four benchmark tram depots.

• Here Comes the Sun: A Field Trial of Solar Water Heating Systems (2011)-

  Published by the UK’s Energy Savings Trust, this report provides results from the largest ever independent trial of solar water heating systems in the UK and Ireland. The Trust’s field trial examined how solar water heating technology performs and the potential for savings on carbon and energy bills in 88 geographically diverse sites across the region.

• Howard Johns Speaks About the UK Grant Schemes -

  In this interview, Howard Johns, from Southern Solar, speaks about the UK Solar Trade Association and the different grant schemes in the UK like the renewable heat incentive, the green deal, among other.

  Please visit our YouTube Channel for more Solarthermalworld.org Interviews

• Review of Technical Information on Renewable Heat Technologies (2011)-

  The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change commissioned this report to the consultancy AEA Technology. The report analyses the technical costs of four heating technologies: air source heat pumps (ASHP); ground source heat pumps (GSHP); solar thermal and biomass. The objective is to better understand these technologies in order to prepare the review process of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme. The Renewable Heat Incentive went live in 2010 and it should be reviewed every four years.

• Great Britain: Industry Reactions to the RHI in Great Britain-

  The UK solar thermal industry has had several months notice that the new Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) was arriving. On the 28^th November 2011 this was finally announced (see www.solarthermalworld.org/node/3191) and the industry has now had time to give its reactions, especially since the PV tariffs have almost been halved since 12 December 2011. So now solar thermal has two benefits; lower PV tariffs and a feed-in tariff for solar thermal kilowatt hours of Pound Sterling (GBP) 0.085 (EUR 0.09) for 20 years.

• Great Britain: Launch of the UK Renewable Heat Incentive -

  After considerable delays and uncertainty, the UK’s Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has been finally launched the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme on 28^th November 2011. Solar heating is one of the included technologies. The first phase of the tariff support is targeted at the non-domestic sector. This includes businesses, public sector, charities, not-for-profit organisations or industry which contributes 38% of the UK’s carbon emissions. Installations that were previously completed after 15 July 2009 will be eligible.

• Canada: Solar Air Heating is strongest Sector -

  2010 was a good year for the solar thermal industry in Canada. The total newly installed collector area (brown line) grew by 54 %, from 129,418 to 199,491 m². Air collector sales (red line) doubled and - for the first - overtook the solar swimming pool market (blue line), which is more or less stagnating. With 150 %, the segment of glazed solar water collectors (pink line) experienced the highest growth, although the 20,000 m² sold in 2010 make it still a low-level market.
  Source: NRCan

• 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.

• 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).

• 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

• New Zealand: SolarCity receives carboNZero Certificate-

  SolarCity New Zealand Limited has been building, retailing and installing solar hot water systems for 30 years. To receive the carboNZero certification, the company has measured its greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to ISO 14064-1:2006 and has pledged to reduce them further. The carboNZero programme was established in 2001 by Landcare Research New Zealand Limited, a research institute owned by the New Zealand government. Since a merger with collector manufacturer and system supplier Solar Technology Systems Ltd in 2010, SolarCity has become New Zealand’s largest solar company and has, meanwhile, begun to offer off-grid and grid-connected PV systems as well.
  Photo: SolarCity

• Dynamic Market Growth in the UK-

  The UK was still one of the most dynamic solar thermal markets in Europe in 2008 – despite the worldwide economic crisis. According to the British Solar Trade Association (STA), the amount of solar thermal collectors installed countrywide in 2008 grew by 50 % to 81,000 m² (57 MW_th)."

• Solar Thermal Heating User Guide (2007)-

• Production line of Absorption Chillers in Spain -

  Factory of Climatewell in the Spanish town of Soria: The Swedish company is setting up a production line of solar absorption chillers.
  Photo: Climatewell
  

• 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.

• Oman: International conference proposes “Energy Roadmap”-

  International experts discussing the potential of renewable energy sources for the Sultanate of Oman in the middle of February: Among the keynote speakers were Omran Al Kuwari, CEO of GreenGulf Inc, Qatar (1st from left), Werner Koldehoff, Board member of the German Solar Industry Association BSW Solar (2nd from left), David Renné, President of ISES, USA (5th from left), Saif Al Hinai, Advisory Committee ICHT, Oman, (6th from left), Prof Ali Sayigh, Chairman of World Renewable Energy Congress UK (7th from left) and Mohammed Al Mahrouqi, Chairman of the Public Authority for Electricity and Water, Oman (1st from right).
  Photo: Photo: A.R. Rajkumar, Times of Oman

• Switch to a Better Future. Accredited Dimplex Renewables Installer and Training Scheme (2009)-

  This is an example of a brochure about the Accredited Dimplex Renewables Installer and Training Scheme. This programme offers specialised domestic heat pump installer training courses. The course receives accreditation from the Logic Certification and it is addressed to plumbing, heating, HVAC and M&E engineers wishing to expand into the air/ground source heat pump sector. The brochure also includes an explanation about heat pumps and solar water heating and the benefits of using renewables.

  Author: Dimplex

• Great Britain: Further delays in the start of the Renewable Heating Initiative -

  On 10^th March 2011 the UK’s Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published details of their Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme. This will launch on 29^th July 2011 (see press release). The RHI aims to help the UK achieve a target of 12% of total heat consumption coming from renewable energy sources by 2020. It is predicted over the next decade that this initiative will reduce carbon emissions by 44 million tonnes, although this depends on which fuels are displaced.

• Solar Industry Summit – UK 2011, London- The Solar Industry Summit - UK brings the players from across the solar industry together with representatives from politics, the financial world, the press and industry suppliers. This leading industry conference will take place in London from 12 to 13 May and offers talks on all current issues facing the sector today. It focuses particularly on the political environment, market developments, technology, financing and marketing.
• Baxi Group: US$ 3 million for a New Collector Production in Turkey-

  A modern Turkish collector factory: Baymak purchased a laser-welding machine as part of the new collector production unit at Istanbul. Photo: Baymak

• UK Carbon Trust Programme: Small Impact on Solar Thermal-

  Yvonne and Stephen Mould wanted to lower the energy bill of their Hyne Town House, a South Devon residential care home, and used an interest-free Energy Efficiency Loan from the Carbon Trust among others for a solar thermal installation.

  Photo: www.southdevoncarehomes.co.uk/

• Solar Thermal Systems - A Guide-

  This document is a two-page beginner's guide to solar hot water systems and considers heat transfer and circulation systems, as well as flat plate and evacutated tube solar thermal collectors. Indicative costs are provided in GBP.

  Go to Document

• 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).
• 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

• 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.

• Clean Power from Deserts- A document produced by the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC), in 2007, discusses the policy options and market situation of increasing the use of renewable energy in the so-called MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). According to scientists, this region will be severely threatened by water scarcity problems in the coming years. Taking that into account, this document tries to show how renewable energies could be the solution to the imminent water crisis situation, notably the use of sea water desalination, combined with solar thermal power from deserts.
• Domestic Heating Compliance Guide (2008)- This document provides guidance on how to satisfy the energy performance provisions of the Building Regulations for work in existing dwellings in the UK. The guide comprises four fuel-based sections and five specialist technology-specific sections. Go to Document
• BERR's Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP Phase 2) - LCBP Phase 2 is part of the UK Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF), a joint DECC/Defra fund to promote the demonstration and deployment of low carbon energy and energy efficiency technologies. For that purpose, grants for the installation of microgeneration technologies are available to public sector buildings (schools, hospitals, housing associations and local authorities) and charitable bodies until June 2009. Go to Document
• Innovation Programme - In 2001, Daventry District Council received funding from the Energy Saving Trust’s Carbon Reduction Pilot (now the Innovation Programme) to undertake a study about the feasibility of providing grants for supply and installation of both solar thermal and photovoltaic domestic systems, in Northamptonshire.
• Small-scale Solar Thermal Energy and Traditional Buildings (2008)-

  This 2008 guide from English Heritage (the UK Government's Adviser on the Historic Environment within England) looks into the small-scale generation of solar thermal energy. The emphasis of the document lies on the practicalities that need to be taken into account for the installation of the solar thermal collectors on a historic building. It lists the different aspects that have to be taken into consideration in the planning stage (i.e. orientation, shading, wildlife). The guide also sets out the different installation options.

• European Policies on Renewables- This presentation from Teun Bokhoven (Vice President of ESTIF - The European Solar Thermal Industry Federation) provides an overview of the solar thermal market in Europe as at October 2007. The document also looks at the impact of EU regulation that affects the industry, in particular: - Renewable Energy Directive, - Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, - ECO Design Directive, - Energy Services Directive Click here to see the Presentation
• 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.
• Simulation Based Design Methods and Economical Analysis for Solar Driven Absorption Cooling Systems (2006)-

  This paper produced by British and German researchers in 2006 sets out to correlate the collector area with cooling power and energy demand in absorption cooling systems.

  The paper demonstrates that buildings with the same maximum cooling power, but very different load time series, require collector areas to vary by a factor 4 to achieve the same solar fraction.

• Solar Thermal: “Potential Massively Underestimated” -

  The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has recently published its Renewable Energy Strategy (RES) which includes solar thermal. This has provoked a strong response from the UK Solar Trade Association (STA) stating that DECC has “massively underestimated the potential of solar thermal technologies and completely missed a huge opportunity”.

• Consumer Attitudes Towards Domestic Solar Power Systems (2006)-

  This case study (2006), uses householders in central England to investigate householder attitudes towards characteristics of solar systems and identifies some of the barriers to adoption.

  The study states that despite the "current policy of stimulating the market with grants" it is "not resulting in widespread adoption".

  The study utilises Diffusion of Innovations theory to identify attitudes towards system attributes, and isolates the characteristics that are preventing a pragmatic ‘early majority’ from adopting the technology.

• Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Unglazed Transpired Air Collectors in a Multicomponent Solar Thermal System (2006)-

  This research paper from 2006 explores the scientific calculations behind air assisted preheating for district heating nets in the former Soviet Union that uses Unglazed Transpired Air Collectors (UTCs) in open solar air systems, e.g. for space heating of production halls. 

• 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

• Solar Thermal Energy in Antarctica-

  Surviving in harsh climate: This vacuum tube collector system has heated the Brandfield House at the Rothera research station in the Antartic since February 2008.
  Photo: British Antarctic Survey
  

• Solar Genersys Video-

• All Energy '09, Aberdeen- The All-Energy exhibition and conference is the UK’s largest event devoted to renewable energy. The ninth in the annual series will be held in Aberdeen 20 and 21 May 2009. Admission to the exhibition and conference is free of charge to all with a professional interest in renewable/sustainable energy so puit the date in your diary now.
• BPEC - Solar- The course is aimed at already qualified or experienced domestic heating engineers and plumbers. The course usually takes approximately 2-3 days to complete including theory, practical and assessment.
• Logic Certification- Solar Thermal Domestic Hot Water Course To become an accredited installer Solar Heated Storage Types (storage cylinders) Solar Primary System Types Go to Document