Tunisia is venturing into another completely new solar thermal application area: solar process heat. After having started the national support programme Prosol first in 2005 for residential solar water heaters, then in 2009 for hotels, hamams (Turkish baths), academic houses and...
Together with the German Aerospace Centre's Institute of Solar Research, DLR, German companies Industrial Solar and Viessmann are working on a standardised hybrid system based on solar energy and fossil fuel to generate steam for industrial applications. The so-called SolSteam...
The German solar thermal market has shrunk yet again. The figures for 2012 show a 9% drop in sales compared to 2011. This year has been off to a very slow start as well: In the first quarter of 2013, collector area sales were down by 19% compared to the same period last year, according...
At the end of November, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE started its new test stand for solar thermal collectors. Using this test stand, the scientists aim to simulate mechanical loads under extreme climatic conditions, e.g., wind or snow, and analyse their effects...
An excellent campus, a highly motivated group of professionals and an abundantly sunny country: Martin Schnauss (third from right) is very satisfied with his Costa Rican training course, which took place in the middle of November at the international campus of the Earth University,...
The Federal Environment Ministry has approved new frame conditions for the MAP, the national Market Rebate Programme for Renewable Energies. Since 15 August, house owners have been receiving a minimum subsidy of EUR 1,500 for a solar combi system, which supplies hot water and space...
The programme Procalsol that started in 2007 will end in December 2012. It has been Mexico’s first long-term scheme to support solar water heating. Experts disagree on whether the end of Procalsol will influence the solar thermal market in the country. In addition, it is not only the...
Final agreement: André Eckermann (left), Programme Director of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), and Victor Manuel Borrás Setién, head of Infonavit, shook hands during the official launch of the 25,000 solar roof programme in Mexico in the middle of June...
After many weeks of waiting and worrying, it is now official: On 7 July, the budget committee of the German parliament unblocked the EUR 115 million funds intended for the country's market incentive programme (MAP). The German Federal Environment Ministry (BMU), which is responsible...
The after effects of the financial crisis are again threatening the German solar sector: Not only had the industry to cope with a 25% decrease in sales in 2009, but now the ...
The six main features in different colours: This is the brand mark of a new website called saisonalspeicher.de (seasonal heat storage) launched in December by Solites, the German Research Institute for Solar and Sustainable Thermal Energy Systems within the company network of the Steinbeis...
