Germany

Solar Keymark is a very broadly accepted label on the European solar thermal market. More than 1,000 collector certificates have been issued since the introduction of the certification system in 2003.
Source: www.solarkeymark.org

"Promising Markets for Renewables and Energy Efficiency" is the slogan of the 2^nd German American Energy Conference (GAE) which will take place 22/23 March 2010 in Berlin, Germany. More than 80 speakers will discuss topics on wind, solar and bio energy, as well as energy efficiency in industry.

The six main features in different colours: This is the brand mark of a new website called saisonalspeicher.de (seasonal heat storage) launched in December by Solites, the German Research Institute for Solar and Sustainable Thermal Energy Systems within the company network of the Steinbeis Foundation.

The 20^th Symposium “Solar Thermal Technologie” organized by the Eastbavarian Institute for Technology Transfer, OTTI e.V. takes place from 5 - 7 May 2010 at the former German monastery Banz, Bad Staffelstein. Main topics are the latest technical developments but also aspects of economy and market policy. Architects will find a forum to discuss problems and experiences in planning and realization of buildings with solar thermal systems. The Symposium is supplemented by an extensive exhibition with the latest developments in the solar industry.

Electronic »e-Learning« programmes for solar heating are beginning to gain popularity with training centres in the UK. These are designed to assist training centres in teaching solar domestic hot water installation techniques to apprentices and engineers. Source: www.elearning-shop.co.uk

About 200,000 m² of flat plate and vacuum tube collectors were shipped throughout the US-American market in 2008, according to the annual statistics of the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The annual report was published in January 2010, four months later than announced.
Source: www.eia.doe.gov

The newly founded Danish company of Nordic Clean Energy (NCE) offers operators of district and local community heating grids all over Europe a feed-in of solar heat from large collector plants at fixed prices.

“How long is the warranty period of your flat plate or your vacuum tube collector?” This question was posed as part of a global solar thermal industry survey to 300 collector manufacturers from 40 different countries. Figure: solrico

The Institute for Thermodynamics and Thermal Process Engineering (ITW) of the University of Stuttgart invites specialists of the solar thermal sector to the one day industry workshop "Solar thermal hot water and combisystems - testing and certification" at 8^th February, 2010. Well-known specialists from Germany, Denmark, France and USA will share their insights.

A solar field for electricity production: The 1,000 parabolic trough collectors by Hawaiian manufacturer Sopogy, which stand in the hot Kona desert on the Big Island of Hawaii, equal the output of a 2 MW thermal power.
Photo: Sopogy/Keahole Solar Power