IEA SHC Task 45

May 17, 2018
On-site collector testing: new standard in development

Once a large solar field is set up at its designated location, what tests can be conducted to show that it performs as expected? Soon, the IEA Solar Heating & Cooling Programme may have an answer to this question, as it is working on internationalising Denmark’s testing procedure. No...
May 1, 2017
Netherlands: Solar Thermal Benefits from SDE+ Solar Heat Tariff

In the Netherlands, solar district heating plants with a capacity of 140 kW_th or above can benefit from a feed-in tariff scheme called SDE+, which pays a certain amount per kWh of energy. Under the scheme, operators of renewable energy plants can apply for a subsidy to bridge the...
August 1, 2016
TASK 45 / 55: Guidelines on How to Design Seasonal Storage

Seasonal storage is a key component in the transformation of today’s energy industry. Besides storing energy in summer for heating in winter, it can also be used to save waste heat from the industry and to increase the electricity production from biomass CHP plants. Experiences gathered...
May 26, 2016
Austria: Award-Winning Energy Service Company Publishes ESCO Model Fact Sheets

Energy Service Companies (ESCO) have become pioneers in the development of financing and operating models for various energy sector customers. Every two years, the so-called Contracting Award highlights exemplary ESCO projects in Germany (“Contracting” is the German word for Energy...
January 6, 2016
Austria: Optimising of Large-scale Collector Fields

One key aspect of the energy and cost optimisation of large-scale collector fields (called arrays in this news) is collector array hydraulics. Optimal connection is achieved when (1) the costs and length of the connecting pipes is small, (2) the pressure drop over the entire array is low...
January 19, 2015
Contracting Models for Solar Thermally Driven Cooling and Heating Systems (2014)

This report highlights new perspectives of financing large solar thermal cooling projects with the objective to expand the use of solar cooling technologies in the public and private sectors through an improved understanding of the approaches adopted by contracting models. The work was...