News | Solarthermalworld

December 13, 2019
Large-scale solar heat is cost-competitive in Germany

In Germany, seven solar district heating plants with a total capacity of 26.6 MWth either came online or are still under construction this year. This is a significant increase compared to the end of 2018, when total SDH capacity reached 43 MWth (33 systems) according to Solites, a research...
December 13, 2019
Andreas Häberle: First large projects tap the potential of solar industrial heat

Electricity is dominating the international discussion about the decarbonisation of the energy sector. In reality, only one-third of our energy demand is electricity, but half is heat for buildings and for industry. In the interview on Solar World Congress in Santiago de Chile Andreas Häberle...
December 11, 2019
Committed to 100 % renewable power! And what about heat?

RE100 is a global initiative to support multinational corporations which are committed to using 100 % renewable energy sources for electricity by 2050 at the latest. Since its launch five years ago, the campaign has been coordinated by the international NGO Climate Group. Today, it counts...
December 5, 2019
Industrial solar heat strategy and training

The SHIP training course that took place in São Paulo from November 12 to 14 was well-received by those attending it. Almost 40 engineers, planners and industry representatives participated in the three-day event held by Pedro Horta and Fanny Hübner, of ISE - Fraunhofer Institute for Solar...
December 4, 2019
Solar heat cost-competitive with fossil fuels if used in large projects

The organisers of the joint SHC/SWC 2019 conferences, which took place in November in Santiago, Chile, introduced a new session format, when they held three Research meets Business Forums. The third one on Wednesday, Deployment of Solar Thermal Solutions for Industrial Process...
December 4, 2019
From S.O.L.I.D. to Solid: differing views on a complicated story

Solid Energy Systems is a newly founded company based in Graz, Austria. It employs 21 of the 30 staff members who used to work at S.O.L.I.D. Gesellschaft für Solarinstallation und Design, which first became insolvent and then went into administration at the end of June 2019. Solid Energy...
December 2, 2019
Professor Klaus Vajen appointed president of ISES

The International Solar Energy Society has announced that Professor Klaus Vajen, Director of the Institute of Thermal Engineering at the University of Kassel, Germany, was elected as the society’s new president. When he starts his two-year term in January 2020, he will succeed Dr David...
November 27, 2019
Touring exhibition shows retrofits in 11 historic buildings

In October, Vienna became the first venue for the new touring exhibition Historic Buildings Energy Retrofit Atlas. At the European Congress on the Use, Management and Conservation of Buildings of Historical Value held in Austria’s capital, 12 roll-up banners showed the positive impact that...
November 25, 2019
Second Arcon-Sunmark SDH system up and running in Tibet

In the middle of November, Chinese-Danish joint venture Solareast Arcon-Sunmark Large-Scale Solar Systems Integration started up its second solar district heating system in Tibet. Now, its 35,000 m² solar field is supplying the thermal energy needed for heating rooms in thousands of...
November 23, 2019
Heat utility in Russia’s far east operates first solar thermal system

Government-owned heat utility Primteploenergo, based in the far east of Russia, has started up its first solar thermal system. It is made up of 18 vacuum tube collectors, which supply hot water to a kindergarten on Russky Island in the Andaman Sea, west of Japan. The installation was built...
November 18, 2019
First district cooling regulation in the MENA region

Abu Dhabi now has its first comprehensive regulatory standard on district cooling. It is based on Act No. 11, which was passed in 2018 and put the responsibility for regulating the district cooling sector on the newly founded emirate’s Department of Energy. Following extensive consultations...
November 15, 2019
Kenya scales up SWH experts training

More than a year after Kenya’s parliament annulled the solar building regulations, the government is still scaling up the training of experts in the installation, maintenance and repair of solar heaters. The Kenyan environment ministry has been supporting 10 technical and vocational...