News | Solarthermalworld

April 20, 2021
Opposing trends in India’s solar thermal market 2020

In 2020, hopes for growth in India’s solar thermal market were dashed when Covid-19 spread like wildfire around the globe, causing a 10 % drop in annual capacity additions. A survey conducted by Malaviya Solar Energy Consultancy indicates 1.15 GW_th (1.64 million m²) of...
April 14, 2021
Water-energy nexus in wastewater management

Solar-powered water treatment can significantly reduce industrial manufacturers’ water and energy footprints and turn municipal water treatment plants into energy distributors. An example of this, a demo plant in Spain producing renewably sourced hydrogen and oxygen from wastewater, was...
April 12, 2021
Hydrogen-ready – the new buzzword in the heating industry

At the ISH digital, held from 22 to 26 March, Germany’s major heating companies offered attendees plenty of new event formats, including moderated board panels, professional film inserts, and live broadcasts of their exhibits. But as those businesses presented their new products, it became...
April 8, 2021
“Develop a business case for thermal energy storage”

Thermal energy storage will undoubtedly play a key role in linking the electricity with the heat sector and in decarbonising buildings and industry. It should come as no surprise then that thermal energy storage (TES) technologies are the focus of the latest Innovation Outlook report...
April 7, 2021
Mixed performance of world's largest flat plate producers in COVID year 2020

Last year’s outbreak of Covid-19 around the globe reduced sales of most of the largest flat plate collector manufacturers not based in China. Only a small number of non-Chinese businesses saw an increase in sales, the result of a new support policy in Germany. Chinese flat plate collector...
March 31, 2021
“7 MW solar heat plants will be a commodity in Europe in 5 to 10 years”

Viessmann, a major German provider of climate solutions for living spaces, strengthened its project development team last year, hiring Christian Stadler and four of his ex-colleagues in June 2020, after their former employer, Danish-based Arcon-Sunmark, stopped operation. As part of...
March 30, 2021
Supply chain maturity and economies of scale drive solar heat costs down

Europe’s solar thermal industry has achieved quite significant cost reductions since 2014, with economies of scale at the project level helping to drive down costs, Michael Taylor, of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), said at a 9 March webinar titled Cheaper than...
March 25, 2021
Improving the efficiency of SDH

Since the end of IEA SHC Task 55 – Large Solar District Heating and Cooling Systems last December, there have been multiple calls for continuing the work of this successful research platform in some fashion. In response, Viktor Unterberger, a senior researcher at the Austrian BEST –...
March 19, 2021
SDH plant performs well in Swiss winter conditions

A new solar district heating plant in Geneva, Switzerland, is basking in the limelight of Swiss politics, with environmental minister Simonetta Sommaruga personally attending the start-up of the system at the end of February. The 816 m² solar field consists of special high-vacuum...
March 17, 2021
Air collectors from Saint Petersburg

Solar Fox, a solar air collector manufacturer founded in 2018 by a private investor in Saint Petersburg, northern Russia, has announced plans to expand its dealer network and production capacity this year. Its collectors, which come in several sizes, are used for space heating and...
March 10, 2021
Rush on industrial solar heat in Germany

In Germany, demand for high-temperature solar process heat is growing rapidly. In the past months, Soliterm, a western German provider of turnkey solar process heat (SHIP) solutions, has conducted an ever-greater number of prefeasibility studies in several sectors, especially in the food...
March 9, 2021
“RHC becomes far cheaper than fossil energy in every way”

Which research and innovation priorities need to be set for buildings, industry, cities and districts to boost the renewable heating and cooling market? The new Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Climate-Neutral Heating and Cooling (SRIA) aims to answer this question by outlining...