Spain

The Barcelona Solar Thermal Ordinance has been in place since 2000. Reviewed in 2006, this piece of local legislation was pioneer for a city in Europe.

Brazing, soldering and welding specialist Dr Shin from South Korea: The Managing Director of Korean machinery equipment supplier SK Brazing presented several improved products for the manufacturing of tanks and collectors at the Intersolar North America in San Francisco in July 2010.
Photo: Bärbel Epp

The US-based Solar Rating and Certification Corporation (SRCC) is on the fast lane. Within only one and a half years SRCC has increased the number of accredited test labs from two to fourteen. Collector and system suppliers that want to enter the US-market can now address test institutes in Australia, Spain, Canada, Germany, China and Switzerland, as well as the US.

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).

This report prepared by the Polytechnic University in Catalunya gives the reader a complete overview of the Barcelona solar thermal ordinance, created in 2000, and the role of the Barcelona City Council in this regard.

After 50 successful years in the Spanish solar market, solar pioneer Rayosol was brought to its knees by the collapse of the Spanish construction industry. Owner Mark Wikholm (right) and Commercial Director Louis D. Bellocq had to file for bankruptcy last autumn.
Photo: S. Banse

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.

At the end of January 2010, the government of the western Indian state of Gujarat made a generous announcement: In promotion of grid-connected solar energy within the state's territory, a capacity of 716 MW of solar power is going to be distributed to 34 national and international project developers. The share of solar photovoltaics and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants is said to be 365 MW and 351 MW, respectively.

The Conferencia de la Industria Solar - España 2010 is an important conference in the calendar of the Spanish solar sector. The event has been very well attended over the past three years, attracting around 300 participants each year. It brings together the industry's experts with the financial world, the media and political representatives. Around 45 experienced speakers from the solar thermal as well as the photovoltaic sector will be looking at the key issues that will concern the sector in 2010 and beyond.

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