Great Britain

Ecobuild 2012 will take place from 20 to 22 March at London’s ExCeL exhibition and conference centre. The Exhibition and Conference is one of the world’s biggest events for sustainable design, construction and the built environment. More than 1,300 suppliers will present their products. The Ecobuild conference 2012 focuses on emerging issues, new thinking, challenging ideas, and the new policy priorities of the coalition government responding to the need for budget cuts.

The British Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) confirmed in a press release from 21 July 2011 that the Renewable Heat Premium Payment will start on 1 August 2011. It will offer grants for the following technologies: Solar water heaters (Pound Sterling (GBP) 300), ground source heat pumps (GBP 1,250), biomass boiler (GBP 950) and air source heat pumps (GBP 850). Solar water heaters are subsidised regardless of the type of heating system used in the household. The other three technologies receive grants only for households without mains gas heating.

The ISOL Navigator has been launched at the Intersolar Europe in Munich at the 8th of June. The international study presents the current and future market development in 16 key solar heating and cooling countries. The ISOL Navigator is based on the “ISOL Index”, an international business climate index developed by German agency solrico at the beginning of 2010. This ISOL index is a point-based indicator (ranging from 0 to 100 points) showing the satisfaction of solar thermal manufacturers and system suppliers with current and expected market development. Company values are averaged to obtain country and regional indices.
Figure: solrico

The UK currently holds the attention of the world with two government solar subsidy schemes – one for PV and one for solar thermal. The conference Solar Industry Summit – UK 2011, organized by the German company Solarpraxis in the middle of May in London, combined the interest of both technologies. Many are wondering which subsidy and which technology will win in the end – so far the PV feed-in tariff is the first in the race.
Photo. Free Spirit Fotolia

Slowdown in the US: After the 2008 peak, the total sold area of medium temperature collectors decreased by 5 % in 2009, to 204,700 m². Exports amounted to only 2,100 m² of collector area, which means that the newly installed collector area in the United States in 2009 adds up to a total of 202,500 m².
Source: Energy Information Administration

Ecobuild 2011 will take place from 1 to 3 March at London’s ExCeL exhibition and conference centre. Ecobuild is one of the world’s biggest events for sustainable design, construction and the built environment. In 2010 the organisers counted more than 1,000 exhibitors and over 41,000 visitors.

In most of the National Renewable Energy Plans (NREAPs), solar thermal was not a priority. Only 8 countries announced significant collector area and growth rates (see news here). solarthermalworld.org asked Xavier Noyon, Secretary General of the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF), about the reasons behind this lack of consideration, and about the actions which have to be taken now.
Photo: ESTIF

On 20 October 2010, after a comprehensive review of Great Britain’s Government Spending, it was announced that the long-awaited Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) will launch in June 2011. The RHI will provide financial support for those who install renewable heating systems, and will support a range of technologies including solar thermal, biomass boilers, combined heat and power, biogas, bioliquids, geothermal and the injection of bio-methane into the natural gas grid.

Solar cooling plant in the middle of Qatar's desert: Manufactured by German Mirroxx, the Fresnel collectors with an aperture area of 1,400 m² (700 kW) deliver the energy for an adsorption chiller which cools a showcase football stadium with 500 seats.
Photo: Gem Advertising and Publications

Generating heat and electricity: Since May 2010, 48 Volther PVT collectors by Turkish manufacturer Solimpeks have both supplied hot water to a children's home in Surrey County, Great Britain, and fed solar electricity into the local energy grid. According to the manufacturer, the system's payback period is 12 years, thanks to the Feed-in Tariff scheme for solar electricity.
Photo: Solimpeks