Switzerland

The paper was presented by Mr. Jacques Bony and Mr. Stéphane Citherlet from the Laboratory of Solar Energetics and Buildings Physics (Switzerland) in the framework of Task 44 of the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme. It presents the energy and economic performances of facilities coupling heat pumps with air heater equipped with solar thermal collectors. The study was done employing a TRNSYS-type dynamic simulation.

This is a study presented by members of the Swiss Institut für Solartechnik during the ISES Solar Word Congress held in Kassel, Germany (28 August - 2 September 2011). Part of the IEA SHC Task 44, the paper researches the benefits and performances of using heat from solar collectors for the evaporator of the heat pump instead of using the heat directly.

As in previous years, ESTIF, the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation, has issued this publication with detailed data and numbers about the solar thermal market in the EU 27 and Switzerland in 2010.

In 2010, the European solar thermal market totalled 2.586 MWth (3.694,940 m²) of newly installed capacity, decreasing by an estimated 13% in comparison with 2009 numbers.

Click here to see the 2010 edition of this publication, referring to 2009 market data.

The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has announced its strategy of how to support the solar thermal sector in Poland. Five Polish regions will receive a total of Swiss Franc (CHF) 55 million, mainly to subsidise solar thermal technology. Small parts of the budget, however, will also be spent on photovoltaic systems. By using their own financial and other resources, all private households and public facilities participating in these projects will have a substantial contribution in the programme's success . Seco plans to select four more solar thermal projects and provide additional funds of CHF 50 million to set them up.

The first Swisssolar conference Solarwärme Schweiz 2012 will take place on 25 January at the Grand Casino in Luzern. The event focuses on the question how to revitalise the stagnating market for solar thermal. Key topics are:

• The potential of solar thermal in Switzerland
• Market opportunities through training
• Sustainable market growth
• Swissolar 2025 targets

Chinese company Hejia Solar Energy presented a new collector type at the All-Energy Australia 2011 trade fair in Melbourne in October 2011. The collector’s automated coverage prevents the system from overheating during daily operation. The participation in the fair was organised jointly by the Chinese manufacturer of the new collector type, Heijia Solar, represented by Chief Engineer Pan Kexue, as well as CEO and owner of Hejia Solar, Wu Guosheng, and the Australian Sales Office OZ Hejia Solar, represented by Director Frank Witowski (middle).
Photo: Oz Hejia Solar

This week, the Swiss Bank Sarasin published the 12^th edition of their solar industry report, covering all three solar technologies: solar heating and cooling (ST), photovoltaics (PV), and concentrating solar power (CSP). The chapter on solar thermal identifies great differences in the market development of national markets and regions. While the Chinese market continues to shine, many European countries are suffering from decreasing or stagnating markets. Nevertheless, Sarasin predicts a great future, with a global average growth of 12% per year until 2020.

Orders for large solar storage tanks are on the rise: Swiss Jenni Energietechnik AG is currently expanding its production capacity to meet the greatly increased demand. At its Oberburg headquarters, the solar company is constructing a new building for the manufacturing of large storage tanks. According to CEO Josef Jenni, the additional facility will enable the company to produce five times as much as before.
Photo: Jenni Energietechnik AG

At their meeting in June, the Executive Committee (ExCo) of the International Energy Agency (IEA) gave green light to a new task for solar process heat. The IEA-SHC (Solar Heating and Cooling) Task 49 – “Solar Process Heat for Production and Advanced Applications“ - will start in January 2012 and run for four years. The now rough outline of the task will be further specified in a second “Task Definition Meeting“ at the Solar World Congress in Kassel, Germany, on 2 September 2011. Task participants will then take the suggestions made by the ExCo to spell out the activities for solar process heat in more detail.

The extra-thick double-glass vacuum tubes by German company Soltark have survived a test with 40 mm hailstones at the Swiss test institute SPF Solartechnik in Rapperswil. A systematic investigation of vacuum tubes at SPF Rapperswil two years ago showed that most of the 26 tested vacuum tube collectors were damaged after several hits with 35mm hailstones. In large parts of Switzerland, however, hail with a thickness of 30 mm must be expected at least once in 50 years (red-coloured areas in the above map). More and more Swiss building insurers are adopting rules for the hail resistance of solar collectors, which the owners hope to incorporate into already existing insurance contracts.

Source: www.hagelregister.ch