In 2020, the German market for solar heat grew by 26 %. During an IEA SHC webinar, Harald Drück said the German success story was possible mainly due to relatively high incentives for funding energy-efficient buildings, and the country’s rapidly growing submarket for solar district heat.

PVT provides 3 times more energy than same-size PV system

Historic building stock and solar energy are not mutually exclusive, as illustrated by La Marseillaise in Nantes, western France. A block of 39 student flats, this 1930s building has no gas or oil boilers but PV-thermal collectors for the on-site production of solar heat and electricity.

SICA countries join IEA SHC with some flagship projects

The IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme welcomes SICREEE as a new sponsor. The organisation represents the eight SICA countries, of which Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua have solar thermal flagship projects.

How SHIP can compete with heat produced from natural gas

Danish Heliac’s CCO Jakob Jensen figured out how much solar thermal systems need to cost to be competitive with typical natural gas units in Europe, if incentives are not part of the equation. He presented his findings at an IEA SHC Solar Process Heat Task meeting earlier this year.

IEA Net Zero by 2050 Roadmap

At an online press conference in May, IEA Executive Director Dr Fatih Birol made some surprisingly forceful statements about the global net-zero emission targets for 2050. “This is not a race between nations but a race against time. And no one wins unless everyone finishes,” he said.

Fit for 55 package – numbers debate about to begin

On 14 July, the European Commission published the Fit for 55 package, which includes revisions to five of the EU’s core climate and energy directives. The aim of the package is to bring the legal framework in line with the Union’s recently tightened net GHG emission reduction targets of at least 55 % by 2030.

“German SDH market could be bigger, if there was enough space”

Under the leadership of Christoph Bühler, Ritter XL has risen to become the market leader for SDH in Germany. His team successfully bid for seven of the last 10 SDH plants. Solarthermalworld.org spoke with the division manager about why municipal utilities are currently showing considerable interest in SDH.

Large prefab SDH collectors: design and yields
by Jens Peter Meyer

Collector size is key when designing large solar thermal fields. In all, nine companies based in Germany, Austria and Finland have specialised in the manufacture of prefabricated collectors with gross areas of 5 to 16 m², which makes the units big enough to be installed by crane.

Nuetech Solar renews Clean Development Mechanism
by Jaideep Malaviya

Nuetech Solar – which in December 2012 became India’s first solar water heater manufacturer to register a Clean Development Mechanism Programme – is about to launch another seven-year contract with UNFCCC support and invites other manufacturers to join the contract.