Italy

The target of the present paper is to give an overview on commercially available Solar Thermal and Heat Pump Systems (SAHPS) and a review on available monitoring results of these integrated systems. It is the fruit of the research of German, Italian and Austrian specialists in the framework of IEA’s Solar Heating and Cooling Programme.

One of the biggest Spanish collector manufacturers, Termicol, can still celebrate its 10^th anniversary this year. The company has managed to counter the decline in the Spanish market by expanding its business abroad. Today, the export of collectors generates 20 % of the company´s turnover. With its own brand, Termicol claims a market share of around 10 % in its home country.
Photo: Termicol

The “Collective Prosol Programme” in Tunisia is gaining momentum. The National Agency for Energy Conservation (ANME) started the subsidy programme for solar thermal installations in the tertiary sector back in 2008. The application rate was low at first, but 2010 became a good year for the commercial solar thermal market. At the end of that year, ANME counted a total installed and subsidised collector area of 4,000 m², including four hotel installations with together 480 m² and around 130 smaller installations under 30 m². According to ANME, grants for another 1,770 m² are still in the pipeline. And, a solar programme targeting 18 public swimming pools is also under development. The photo shows the solar installation on the Iberostar Phenicia hotel in Hammamet, at the northeast coast of Tunisia.
Photo: Alcor

The change at the helm of government in Italy has already had some positive effects on the solar thermal sector. The tax credit extensions were confirmed earlier than in the years before. At the beginning of December, the government approved the extension until 31 December 2012 under the current conditions. If they had not done so, the tax reduction would have expired at the end of 2011. According to the current regulations – in place since January 2011 – residential customers can deduct 55 % of the investment costs from their income tax during a period of 10 years.

The historical downtown area of the Portuguese capital, known as Baixa Pombalina, has a collector area potential of 100,000 m². This is the result of the study “Carta do Potencial de Integração de Sistemas Solares na Baixa Pombalina”, which was developed within European project ProSTO - Best Practice Implementation of Solar Thermal Obligations - coordinated by Lisbon’s Municipal Energy and Environment Agency, Lisboa E-Nova, in cooperation with the city council and IGESPAR (Portuguese Institute for the Management of Architectural and Archaeological Heritage). The photo shows the Arco da Rua Augusta – the entrance to Baixa Pombalina.
Photo: Wikipedia

The next edition of the European Solar Days – a campaign of national events aimed at promoting the use of solar energy – will be held from 1 to 13 May 2012. The initiative now includes more than 20 participants from 16 countries, who gathered on 7 and 8 November in Prague for the second European Solar Days Annual Conference. The meeting consisted of the internal project meeting with the partners and the Annual Conference, also attended by two guest countries. A total of 23 conference participants were responsible for evaluating the 2011 event and planning the 2012 campaign.
Photo: ESTIF

Running until 2012, “Widening the Thermal Solar Energy Exploitation by the Successful Models" (WidetheSee) is a project developed by 11 South-Eastern European countries and co-financed by the EU. It aims at promoting the usage of solar thermal technologies for domestic hot water appliances in the context of European policies concerning renewable energy sources and the reduction of fossil fuel dependence.

SAIE 2012 will take place from 18 to 21 October in Bolgna, Italy. Since 2010 the international building exhibition has a new format and offers new services and new opportunities. SAIE brings together various players in order to offer integrated solutions for a changing sector, assuring greater attention to the environment as well as greater energy efficiency, safety and provision of services.

Solarexpo, the international exhibition and conference on renewable energy and distributed generation, is one of Italy's leading trade fairs dedicated to sustainable energy and the green economy. Solarexpo's 13th edition will take place from 9 to 11 May in Verona. Alongside the exhibition, Solarexpo will offer a rich programme of conferences, seminars, training courses and other special events: from solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy to cogeneration and trigeneration, from technology transfer projects in developing countries to green jobs and more.