The solar district heating system at the Drake Landing Solar Community in Canada has - in its fourth year of operations - almost reached the planned solar heating fraction of 90 %. In addition to borehole heat storage of 34,000 m³, the system is equipped with two short-term storage tanks. 52 single-family houses benefit on their two storeys from the generated district heating energy. As for domestic hot water, each house has its own solar water heater, which generates around 50% of the water heating energy, while a gas-fired boiler supplies the rest.

Two months after the new government came to power, its strategy for solar energy still remains a mystery. The new subsidy programme barely mentions renewable energies, but focuses on energy efficiency instead. The two subsidy schemes for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), as well as Private Social Solidarity Institutions (IPSS) and sports facilities were stopped last year. Moreover, the tax rebates of roughly EUR 800 for residential clients who purchase renewable energies equipment are no longer in place since the agreement between the Portuguese government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The stagnation in the Polish solar thermal market in 2010 seems already ancient history. The Polish Institute of Renewable Energy (IEO) expects the solar thermal market to grow by one third this year: “we estimate that up to 200,000 m² of solar collectors will be installed in Poland in 2011,” IEO President Grzegorz Wiśniewski (right hand photo) says. One reason for the upward trend is that the residential subsidy programme by NFOŚiGW has been gaining momentum. “At the beginning, the programme was subject to many limitations,” Janusz Starościk (left hand photo), head of the Association of Manufacturers and Importers of Heating Appliances (SPIUG), explains. “These barriers were removed in January 2011, which greatly increased people's interest in the programme”.