SPF Institute for Solar Technology

August 7, 2018
Solar Keymark Network gets new chairman

The Solar Keymark Network meeting held in Spain this March saw a new chairman, Andreas Bohren (see photo), leading a reshaped organisation. From now on, the members of the network, also known as SKN, will have a physical meeting in spring and an online one in autumn. Votes can be held in...
October 10, 2017
Switzerland: Plans for Solar District Heating Pilot System

“Why is there no solar district heating in Switzerland?” Swiss scientists were asking after their visit to Denmark. They had been investigating the feasibility of solar heat in district heating networks in the St Gallen canton and published a 50-page study this March (see the attached...
September 5, 2017
IEA SHC: New Task to Use Solar Energy for Water Treatment

On 18 September, there will be a definition meeting for a new task called Solar Energy in Industrial Water Management in Gleisdorf, Austria. The initiator of this international research project within the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme is Christoph Brunner from Austrian...
June 1, 2017
Switzerland: Rising Interest in PVT Technologies

The Swiss-based SPF - Institute of Solar Technology has recently published a report on behalf of EnergieSchweiz, a programme by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, about the market situation of PV-thermal technologies (PVT) in Switzerland and across all of Europe (see attached document in...
May 31, 2017
Europe: Collector Field Is Main Cost Driver of Industrial Solar Heat Plants

Scientists from Germany and Switzerland have recently analysed the cost structures of systems producing solar process heat. They presented their findings in mid-May at the Solar Thermal Energy Symposium, where they said they had identified great potential for cost-cutting and discovered a...
July 29, 2016
Switzerland: PVT System Output Reaches 330 kWhth/m² on Top of 163 kWhel/m²

Crystalline PV modules utilise only 12 to 15 % of the incoming sunlight, while the rest is usually treated as waste heat. Hybrid solar panels, also called PVT elements, will channel this unused low-temperature heat, as shown by a large-scale demonstration plant in Switzerland. The PVT...
March 3, 2015
Austria: Task 42 Meeting on Compact Thermal Energy Storage Systems

IEA-SHC Task 42, entitled Compact Thermal Energy Storage, has entered into its final year and will end in December 2015. In February 2015, 44 scientists met for the 13^th Experts Task Meeting in Vienna, Austria, to discuss the characterisation and development of materials for...
April 1, 2014
Switzerland: Process Heat Collector Performance Testing

Process heat collectors in the range of 100 to 250 °C represent a rather new type of technology, and test institutes are facing some challenges when trying to test these collectors. Solarthermalworld.org spoke with Dr Elimar Frank, Research Director at the Swiss Institute for Solar...
June 25, 2013
Germany: Almeco Solar Presents Absorber Tube for Process Heat Collectors

German coating manufacturer Almeco Solar has designed a new absorber tube: Small in size with a working temperature around 200 °C and no vacuum. The company wants to beat both the performance and the current price of black chrome absorber tubes. The solution is called Tinox tube 2.0...
June 2, 2013
Solar Process Heat: European Commission Advocates More Research

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...
November 30, 2011
Australia: Vacuum Tube Collector with Overheating Protection

Chinese company Hejia Solar Energy presented a new collector type at the All-Energy Australia 2011 trade fair in Melbourne in October 2011. The collector’s automated coverage prevents the system from overheating during daily operation. The participation in the fair was organised jointly by...
August 8, 2011
New IEA Task for Solar Process Heat

At their meeting in June, the Executive Committee (ExCo) of the International Energy Agency (IEA) gave green light to a new task for solar process heat. The IEA-SHC (Solar Heating and Cooling) Task 49 – “Solar Process Heat for Production and Advanced Applications“ - will...