Policy | Solarthermalworld

October 28, 2018
A closer look at six Latin American and Caribbean markets

Fundación Bariloche, a private-sector research institute based in Argentina, has recently published a report on the differences between the solar thermal markets in Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay. The authors of the study take a look at key factors for growth, such as...
August 23, 2018
RVO renewable heat incentive statistics online

Since January 2016, a subsidy scheme by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, also known as RVO, has led to the installation of 66,659 renewable heating systems in the country, the ISDE Viewer...
August 17, 2018
Successful solar energy bylaw in Bengaluru, India

Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company, a public utility also known as BESCOM, has been successful in implementing a bylaw to encourage the use of solar energy. Since 2009, 1,234 million m² of collector area had been installed in Bengaluru and had supplied energy equivalent to about 611...
July 18, 2018
Sector coupling still at an early stage

‘Sector coupling’ has become one of the most well-known terms to describe the transformation of energy markets. It had originally been created for models that use surplus renewables, such as wind and solar electricity, to provide heat and power new means of transport. International...
June 28, 2018
Global electricity demand for air conditioning to triple by 2050

“Growing demand for air conditioners is one of the most critical blind spots in today’s energy debate,” Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the IEA, said as he presented the findings of The Future of Cooling report in May. The chart shows that, in the baseline scenario, cooling is projected...
June 26, 2018
Europe’s first-ever renewable heating and cooling target

After night-long negotiations, the European Parliament and Council have reached an agreement on the Renewable Energy Directive for 2030. At long last, discussions that started in November 2016 came to a close in the early morning of 14 June. The...
October 20, 2017
Sweden’s Solar Heat Market on Hold

The IEA Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC) programme has recently updated its country report on Sweden’s solar thermal industry, pointing out the increasing competition with other energy technologies and the factors exacerbating the...
October 17, 2017
EU Renewables Directive Revision Could Give New Impetus to Solar Thermal

The European Parliament is planning to vote on a revised Renewable Energy Directive next February. About 1,300 amendments had been submitted until July 2017 related to the first draft of the revised directive from November 2016 (see attached document). The amendments are currently discussed...
October 15, 2017
SHC Solar Award: Five Finalists with Successful Support Policies

Administrators of successful solar thermal support schemes are in the focus of this year’s Solar Award of the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (IEA SHC). The jury has chosen five finalists, of which one will receive the SHC Solar Award during the IEA SHC’s joint conference with ISES...
July 24, 2017
India: New Energy Building Regulations to Boost Solar Heating Market

This June, the Indian Ministry of Power published an updated version of the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) developed by the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). The ECBC has established energy efficiency standards and a solar share of hot water demand for newbuilds and...
February 2, 2017
IEA SHC Award 2017: Nominations Call for Outstanding Support Programme / Policy Achievements

The IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme has published a Call for Nominations for its 2017 Solar Award. Until 1 May 2017, administrators of successful SHC support programmes or policies can be nominated for the award, which will be presented at the International Conference on Solar...
February 1, 2017
Italy: Market Decline Continues Despite Appealing Incentives

Italy’s solar thermal market experienced another 10 % drop in 2016 despite the availability of at least two appealing incentive schemes: a 65 % tax reduction for small systems and Conto Termico 2...