Czech Republic

After running for 28 months, the IEE So-Pro project to develop and promote solar process heat ended in September 2011. Project Leader Christiane Egger was able to present a successful programme at the Estec 2011 in Marseilles: More than 90 energy screenings in various industrial companies, about 160 persons trained, 990 participants of round-table events and conferences, 21 publications in 5 languages, 7 pilot projects in operation and about 10 in the pipeline. For the complete interview with Christiane Egger, click here.

The 'SDHtake-off - Solar District Heating in Europe' project is a EU-funded project (under the European Commission Programme IEE Intelligent Energy Europe)supporting the market rollout of solar district heating in Europe. It started on July 2009 and runs for a period of three years. This document is one of its deliverables, describing the development of SDH capacities in Europe as a result of the existing policies and incentives.

On 29 and 30 September, the project partners of the EU project SDHtake-off met for a workshop during the GeoThermExpo in Ferrara, Italy. “All the big players in district heating in Italy joined our meeting,” project coordinator Thomas Pauschinger from German research centre Solites says. He sees that as an indicator for the growing interest of the district heating industry in solar thermal applications. The Italian town Serrazzano (Photo) might soon have a solar district heating system.
Photo: Geo Energy Service

In autumn of 2010, it became clear that the budget of the Czech subsidy programme Zelena Usporam (Green Savings) lacks about Czech Koruny CZK 8 billion (EUR 329 million). The Minister of Environment, Tomáš Chalupa, published a press release at the end of April 2011, describing how to bring down the deficit with revised programme rules.

The early bird registration for the European Solar Thermal Energy Conference (estec 2011) has been extended to 15 July. You can save around EUR 100 if you sign up for the 2-day conference before this date. It will take place in Marseilles, France, on 20 and 21 October 2011. Fees are lower for members of the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) or the French Solar Association ENERPLAN.
Photo: ESTIF

Demand for subsidised solar water heater is very different in Europe and the USA. A comparison between California and the Czech Republic shows that the growth potential is much higher in European countries. The number of applications submitted to the national subsidy programme has been 100 times as much in the Eastern European country as in the US state. The photo shows a commercial solar water heater on a multi-family apartment community in Huntington Beach, California, installed by California Solar Thermal, Inc. The 24-panel-installation was subsidised by both California Solar Initiative (CSI) - Thermal Program as well as the Federal Treasury Grant (30%) and reached a payback time of two years.
Photo: California Solar Thermal

Several well-known speakers shared their market figures from key solar thermal markets worldwide with the audience of the Global Solar Thermal Markets session at the Intersolar Conference at the beginning of June. Whereas India and Brazil maintain high growth rates, the European solar heating and cooling sector has to again cope with a decline of now 13 % in 2010 compared to the previous year. The chart shows the developments of markets with a volume of 200,000 and 500,000 m². It is part of the 16-page brochure “Solar Thermal Markets in Europe”, which the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) presented at the Intersolar.
Figure: ESTIF

The ISOL Navigator has been launched at the Intersolar Europe in Munich at the 8th of June. The international study presents the current and future market development in 16 key solar heating and cooling countries. The ISOL Navigator is based on the “ISOL Index”, an international business climate index developed by German agency solrico at the beginning of 2010. This ISOL index is a point-based indicator (ranging from 0 to 100 points) showing the satisfaction of solar thermal manufacturers and system suppliers with current and expected market development. Company values are averaged to obtain country and regional indices.
Figure: solrico

While solar heat for domestic and service applications shows increasing market shares across Europe, solar process heat seems still very much in its infancy. In principle, the potential is enormous: About 30% of the total industrial heat demand requires temperature levels below 100°C, which can be met by commercially available solar thermal collectors. The international training seminar Solar Process Heat, which takes place as an official side event of the Intersolar Europe in Munich on 9 June 2011, will offer information and know-how on solar thermal system design for solar process heat installations.
Source: www.solar-process-heat.eu