2010’s “Law 20.365” tax rebate has made Chile´s solar thermal market grow substantially over the last years. Until now, however, the government has not yet agreed on continuing the rebate after 2013. The law enables construction companies to deduct a certain share of their investment costs in a solar thermal system from the down payments that the law requires on any tax declaration. Chile’s solar industry association ACESOL is lobbying to extend the tax rebate scheme, because the country´s solar thermal industry has already been affected: As the law applies to large-scale construction projects, which take a long time to plan and build, several developers have just decided to exclude solar water heaters from their construction projects.

Since October 2011, the Réglementation Thermique 2012 (RT 2012) has made it a requirement for all new non-residential buildings to adhere to a minimum energy consumption level of, on average, 50 kWh/m² primary energy per year, including demand from space heating and cooling, ventilation, hot water and lighting. From January 2013 onwards, the RT2012 will also cover single- and multi-family houses everywhere in France except for overseas territories. The solar thermal industry looks with mixed feelings to 2013, because it is still unclear how the new regulations will affect the market development. Certain system suppliers are convinced that RT2012 will push solar water heaters in the residential segment. In contrast, others are afraid that hot water heat pumps will make the race, because electricity prices are still low.

The Indian company Clique Solar was among the award winners at Intersolar India 2012. For the first time, the international fair presented its Intersolar Award in the category of Solar Projects. The awarded solar cooling system is integrated into an existing power supply system in the city of Greater Noida, Northern India, operated by National Thermal Power (NTPC), New Delhi, and consists of two ARUN 160 dishes with a reflector area of 169 m². Clique Solar is one of the very few companies in the region that has focused on expanding solar energy use in industrial process heat.

The aim of German insulating glass manufacturer Energy Glas GmbH was to develop a new glass-glass collector which basically fits into all post-and-beam constructions in the façade. The company’s R&D efforts succeeded: The team is proud to have realised its first two pilot projects with the new collector model. Since last year, metal absorbers in a triple-pane glazing have been installed in the façade of steel construction company Heinrich Lamparter Stahlbau GmbH & Co KG in the German city of Kassel, and in the façade of the sports centre in Etteln, Germany.