KfW banking group

April 21, 2017
Germany: Process Heat Supply from Vacuum Tubes and Air Collectors on the Rise

There is a distinct difference between the make-up of the German solar process heat segment and the country’s solar thermal market in general and it concerns the type of collectors used. One in four collectors used in solar process heat systems is an air collector, although the technology...
May 11, 2016
India: Government Presents 102 Awards for Solar Process Heat and Solar Cooking

Piyush Goyal, Indian Minister of State for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, awarded prizes to 102 institutions, companies and agencies for their achievements in high-temperature solar process heat and cooking. The photo shows the minister calling on the manufacturers to share...
December 22, 2014
Germany: Second Tax Rebate Attempt to Make Buildings Energy-Efficient

The third of December 2014 was a historically sunny day for the German solar thermal sector: On this date, the government approved the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency, NAPE, which had been drafted by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The document lists a number...
October 30, 2014
Germany: Solar-Heated Gas Pressure Regulating System with 7 % Benefit

Enertracting, located in Kassel, Germany, offers solar heat as an Energy Service Company (ESCO). Its first flagship project has been a gas pressure regulating system, for which the company presented some financial and operational data at a workshop organised by the Thuringian Ministry of...
January 21, 2014
Germany: Icy Solar Heat Storage

German engineering company Ökoplan has built a 1,586 m³ ice storage in one of Hamburg’s residential areas to save solar heat from summer for winter. Parts of the heating system have already begun operating; the start of the ice storage is scheduled for October 2014. The chiller with a...
January 25, 2013
Germany: No Retrofit Tax Rebate

After a long debate, the tax bill for the energy-efficient modernisation of buildings died before being enacted. In summer 2011, the German parliament had agreed on the law, which was to become part of the German climate action plan. But because it would have affected the states’...
August 16, 2012
Germany: Environment Ministry Pushes up Solar Process Heat Subsidies

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...