International Energy Agency’s Solar Heating and Cooling Programme

This report was prepared within the framework of the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (SHC) of the International Energy Agency (IEA) as an update of the one issued in 2009. The report documents the solar thermal capacity installed in the important markets worldwide and its contribution in terms of supply of energy and CO2 emissions reduction. Documented collectors comprise unglazed collectors, glazed flat-plate and evacuated tube collectors with water as the energy carrier, as well as glazed and unglazed air collectors.

This study is a deliverable of the IEA Solar Heating & Cooling Programme. Based on the previous studies and results from international R&D cooperation, the declared goal is to present the opportunities linked to solar thermal technologies given their positioning as the fourth largest renewable source of energy.

The Solar Heating and Cooling Programme of the International Energy Agency (IEA SHC) is planning to start its own annual conference in 2012. The conference name SHC has been chosen in reference to the long-established research programme IEA SHC. The full name is International Conference on Solar Heating and Cooling for Buildings and Industry. The 1^st SHC will take place in San Francisco from 9 to 11 July 2012 – in cooperation with the Intersolar North America (10 to 12 July 2012).

Solar heat is penetrating Denmark’s district heating networks at an unprecedented rate: Around 90,000m² of collector area (63 MW_th) are going to be connected to the country’s networks in 2011. The map shows the existing and planned solar district heating systems in Denmark, including the installed or planned collector area. The Danish consulting and engineering company PlanEnergi was responsible of drafting the map in the framework of Task 45 “Large Solar Heating/Cooling Systems, Seasonal Storage, Heat Pumps”. The task was started in January 2011 by the International Energy Agency’s Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (IEA SHC), which will run until December 2013.
Source: PlanEnergi

This report from 2008 falls within the framework of the Internal Energy Agency’s Solar Heating and Cooling Programme.

The objective of this report is to undertake pre-normative research to develop a comprehensive and integrated suite of building energy analysis tool tests involving analytical, comparative, and empirical methods.

These methods will provide for quality assurance of software some of which will be enacted in specific standards to be used for certifying software used for showing compliance to building energy standards.

This report from the IEA (2006) analyses the various storage options storing thermal energy in systems providing heating or cooling for buildings.

The analysis runs along four lines of comparison between the various solutions:

1. Evaluation and Dissemination (creation of common comparative approach)
2. Chemical and Sorption Storage
3. Phase Change Materials Storage
4. Water Storage

Of the conclusions reached, the most significanat are that :

- PCM combined with water is at present the most promising option

If solar energy is to be the primary or only source of heat for houses in the future, there will arise a need for storing it more efficiently. Materials have to be found that are able to hold more energy than water, but with less volume and higher loss. Task 32 of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Solar & Cooling programme was working on this issue. The scientists presented their results at the Eurosun 2008 in Lisbon, at the beginning of October.

If solar heat likes to gain more importance in the future, it should not ignore the industrial sector. Task 33 of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Solar Heating & Cooling programme performed an analysis of industrial energy needs and looked for the potential of solar heat within the sector. The Task’s scientists found a huge potential for energy from the sun. The industrial sector makes up about 28 % of total primary energy consumption in the European Union. A significant share of the heat used in industrial processes is used at low or medium temperatures.

Eurosun 2008 took place in Lisbon from 7^th to 10^th of October. Photo: Joachim Berner

In the past, the installed base of solar thermal systems was measured in terms of collector area (square meters or square feet) rather than in terms of installed capacity to produce heat.