Cyprus

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 Europe, only a few conferences focus exclusively on solar heating and cooling in 2011. Most events combine both solar thermal technology and photovoltaics, with two-thirds of the schedule being reserved for solar electricity and only one third for solar thermal. Please check the event calendar for more information about these events. The few events in 2011 that deal only with solar heating and cooling (and have been included in the event calendar, too) are listed in the following:

Clear-cut concepts and mandatory targets to protect the climate was what the European Commission requested from the 27 EU members as they created their National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs). On 30 June 2010, 23 states delivered their national version – with meagre success for solar thermal technology. Carried out by the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF), an analysis of the presently available NREAPs shows that only the 8 countries displayed in the figure above included significant collector area and growth rates in their plans lasting until 2020.
Source: ESTIF

This document is one of the deliverables of the MED-CSD project. The main aim of this FP7 project is the assessment of the technico-economic potential of CSP for electricity and desalination in the Mediterranean region.

The document explores the demand for water and electricity in the Mediterranean and assesses the market potential of CSP in a number of countries (Cyprus, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Jordan, Israel, Syria, Turkey and Lebanon).

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

This report from 2009 provides an overview of the SOLCO project. Supported by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme of the European Commission, this project tries to look into ways of removing barriers that hamper the dissemination of solar cooling plants in European Southern regions such as the Canary Islands, Crete, Cyprus and Sicily, where the high solar radiation is ideal for solar cooling implementation.

This report, made by Intelligent Europe and CRES, provides information on open-air pool heating in Cyprus and on different technologies that can be used to heat pools.

The document contains relevant information such a listing of standards related to solar thermal heating, best practises examples in Cyprus and the incentive schemes available.

Download document here or read it below

Following the the contribution from ESTELA (European Solar Thermal Electricity Association) to the European Commission’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan, ESTELA has also issued its proposal for the Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP). One of the main goals of the MSP is to contribute to the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean regional renewable electricity market. In addition, the MSP will also help the economic development of Southern Mediterranean countries by creating a new source of revenue.

This 2009 document is the contribution from ESTELA (European Solar Thermal Electricity Association) to the European Commission’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan. The report gives a good overview of the strategic benefits of focusing on solar thermal and connects it with its socio-economic benefits.