Legambiente, one of the major environmental associations in Italy, releases a report every year on the diffusion of renewables at local level, highlighting the role of municipalities and stressing their commitment, for instance, to renewable use in public buildings. The current study, published in May 2015, listed 6,803 Italian municipalities with solar thermal installations from a total number of about 8,000 in 2014. This represents a huge increase from the 108 municipalities having solar water heating installed in their community in the first survey in 2005.

It is said to be the largest solar thermal plant in Russia: 2,200 collector modules by German heating boiler manufacturer Bosch Thermotechnik have been installed next to a district heating system in Narimanov in the Astrakhan region in southwest Russia. The district heating plant includes 5 new gas boilers from Bosch Thermotechnik with a total of 30 MW. The 4,400 m² collector field feeds into the hot water pipe system.

Austrian heat supplier Energiecomfort is expanding its solar heat services: The company based in Vienna, the capital of Austria, services around 5,000 m² of collector area for 50 different multi-family building projects across the Vienna area. Over the coming weeks, a 1,500 m² collector field for the newly built residential district Waldmühle Rodaun will go into operation, for which Energiecomfort will act as an Energy Service Company to provide the entire heat supply for the around 445 flats built on the grounds of a former cement factory on the outskirts of Vienna.

Two well-known solar thermal manufacturers from the USA and Mexico announced at the beginning of June that they will establish a joint-venture to manufacture polymer-based solar thermal absorbers and collectors in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca. The factory, which receives monetary support from CeMie-Sol, the Mexican Center for Innovation in Solar Energy, is expected to start producing by late 2016 with some 50,000 m² of capacity according to a press release published on 3 June. The photo shows the production of polypropylene absorber plates at Aquatherm. It is one of the manufacturing steps that should be done in Mexico as well.

In March, the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) in Cairo, Egypt, launched an online training program on the Solar Water Heaters Quality Assurance and Certification Scheme in the Arab region. The training course aims to provide participants with sufficient knowledge on SWH quality and certification schemes, such as the Solar Heating Arab Mark and Certification Initiative (SHAMCI). Participants can register for the training course online. According to the RCREEE, it is the first online training in the Middle East and North Africa region.