Australia

The Australian solar thermal market has not actually recovered since the boom year 2009. According to the Head of the Renewable Department of Rheem Australia Pty Ltd, Chris Mundy, the total installed collector area in 2011 again decreased by around 13 % to 100,000 systems. In 2009, around 150,000 systems had found a buyer in Australia. The company is still advertising the subsidies that have been granted around the country, but these subsidies will stop in June 2012. This means that economic prospects will likely remain difficult this year.
Source: www.solahart.com.au

This report was prepared by Energy Consult Ltd. for the Sustainability Victoria governmental agency’s programme. The goal of the report was to estimate the annual energy consumption, GHG emissions and energy running costs of different hot water and heat pump systems in Victoria. This study is an update of an earlier study done by the same company.

Chinese company Hejia Solar Energy presented a new collector type at the All-Energy Australia 2011 trade fair in Melbourne in October 2011. The collector’s automated coverage prevents the system from overheating during daily operation. The participation in the fair was organised jointly by the Chinese manufacturer of the new collector type, Heijia Solar, represented by Chief Engineer Pan Kexue, as well as CEO and owner of Hejia Solar, Wu Guosheng, and the Australian Sales Office OZ Hejia Solar, represented by Director Frank Witowski (middle).
Photo: Oz Hejia Solar

This week, the Swiss Bank Sarasin published the 12^th edition of their solar industry report, covering all three solar technologies: solar heating and cooling (ST), photovoltaics (PV), and concentrating solar power (CSP). The chapter on solar thermal identifies great differences in the market development of national markets and regions. While the Chinese market continues to shine, many European countries are suffering from decreasing or stagnating markets. Nevertheless, Sarasin predicts a great future, with a global average growth of 12% per year until 2020.

The 49^th annual Australian Solar Energy Society’s (AuSES) conference will take place from 30 November to 2 December in Sydney. The event involve a range of leading government officials, scientists, developers, and solar industry experts. The program will feature many practical, in-depth forums and discussion panels sharing current thinking and best practice

This article was written by the researchers I. Budihardjo and G.L. Morisson form the University of New South Wales, Australia.

The goal of the research was to evaluate the performance of water-in-glass evacuated tube. A comparison was made with flat plate systems operating in Sydney, Australia.

The simulation programme TRNSYS was used to evaluate the performance and energy efficiency of the systems.

The largest solar cooling plant built in Australia so far has been running since April 2011. The solar-assisted cooling installation is a project by the Echuca Regional Health, a public hospital in Echuca, around two and a half hours drive north of Melbourne.
Photo: Echuca Regional Health 

According to Dr Uli Jakob, Vice President of the “Green Chiller - Association for Sorption Cooling”, the solar cooling sector may soon experience a shift from small series production of a niche market to considerable manufacturing quantities. Jakob points out two signs supporting such a development: First, the approval of the IEA-SHC task 48, “Quality Assurance and Support Measures for Solar Cooling“; second, the recent market entry of big players, such as Stiebel Eltron (Germany) and Hitachi (Japan).
Photo: Bärbel Epp

Following Bad Staffelstein (Germany, 2005), Terragona (Spain, 2007), and Palermo (Italy, 2009), the 4th International Solar Air Conditioning Conference will now take place in Lanarca, Cyprus, from 12 to 14 October 2011. Over the years, the conference has grown into an important event, at which scientists and industrial researchers, product manufacturers, building designers and planners, contractors, and installers have met to exchange knowledge and experiences. The complete conference schedule is now available for download - and also attached to this news piece.
Photo: Zenith Consulting Engineers

In Australia, solar cooling is still a niche technology - despite good solar resources and a large air-conditioning and refrigeration market. The multiple market barriers which prevent the technology from achieving greater market shares are mostly economic in nature. During a presentation at the 9th IIR Gustav Lorentzen Conference 2010 in Sydney, Dr Paul Kohlenbach, Director of international solar cooling consultancy Solem Consulting, and Dr Mike Dennis of the Australian National University, highlighted these market barriers and opportunities for solar cooling in Australia. Kohlenbach himself has additionally carried out a study comparing the economics of a solar thermal, a PV-based and a conventional cooling system over a 20-year lifespan.
Figure: Solem Consulting