Large-scale solar heat is cost-competitive in Germany

Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) sell solar heat to clients instead of solar systems. To be profitable, the ESCO or contractors need to supply the energy over long contract periods between 10 and 20 years. For example, Austrian company S.O.L.I.D. has received a EUR 4 million loan...
In March, almost 40 scientists, engineers and solar process heat specialists met for the 1st workshop of the European InSun project, called "Exchange of experience made...
The first conference “Solar District Heating – Technical solutions, urban planning and business models” took place in the Swedish town of Malmö on 9 and 10 April 2013. It brought together 120 participants from 19 countries: manufacturers, district heating companies, scientists and...
2012 meant shrinking sales figures in the Austrian solar thermal market for the third time in a row. Although most states have increased their subsidies for solar thermal, 2013 does not seem to get any better. Three companies went bankrupt within the last four months. Collector prices on...
The solar thermal cooling plant at the United World College (UWC) in Singapore has now entered the commissioning phase. The system's collector surface covers an area of 3,900 m² and powers a 1,500 kW cooling unit, which is based on a single-effect lithium bromide absorption chiller...
According to Dr Uli Jakob, Vice President of the “Green Chiller - Association for Sorption Cooling”, the solar cooling sector may soon experience a shift from small series production of a niche market to considerable manufacturing quantities. Jakob...
On the 15th of May, the city of Graz saw the inauguration of another large-scale solar thermal installation (from left): Dr. Wolfgang Messner (Graz AG), Andrea Pavlovec-Meixner and Sonja Grabner (municipal councillors), Christian Holter (S.O.L.I.D) and Wolfgang Malik (Graz AG...