Slovenia

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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/

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

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

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

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.