International Energy Agency’s Solar Heating and Cooling Programme
The IEA Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC) Programme has over 35 years of international collaborative work in the field of research, development, demonstration (RD&D) and test methods for solar thermal energy and solar buildings. The results of this work are available for researchers, policy makers, industry, utility and business representatives, builders, architects and teachers
The IEA SHC Programme is a member-based Programme with 20 member countries and 5 member organizations. Its mission is “To enhance collective knowledge and application of solar heating and cooling through international collaboration to fulfill its vision of solar thermal energy meeting 50% of low temperature heating and cooling demand by 2050.”
Highlighted in the section below are some of our most recent publications:
Andreas Häberle: First large projects tap the potential of solar industrial heat
Electricity is dominating the international discussion about the decarbonisation of the energy sector. In reality, only one-third of our energy demand is electricity, but half is heat for buildings and for industry. In the interview on Solar World Congress in Santiago de Chile Andreas Häberle points to the huge, largely …
Solar heat cost-competitive with fossil fuels if used in large projects
The organisers of the joint SHC/SWC 2019 conferences, which took place in November in Santiago, Chile, introduced a new session format, when they held three Research meets Business Forums. The third one on Wednesday, Deployment of Solar Thermal Solutions for Industrial Process Heating and Cooling, was moderated by Andreas Häberle …
Touring exhibition shows retrofits in 11 historic buildings
In October, Vienna became the first venue for the new touring exhibition Historic Buildings Energy Retrofit Atlas. At the European Congress on the Use, Management and Conservation of Buildings of Historical Value held in Austria’s capital, 12 roll-up banners showed the positive impact that energy retrofits had on historic buildings …
Kyotherm wins 2019 SHC Solar Award
Kyotherm, a French-based third-party investor, has won the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling programme’s Solar Award for financing energy service companies (ESCOs) so end users in the industrial sector can reap economic benefits from day one. The first solar thermal project supported by Kyotherm is a 14,252 m² solar field …
Start of SHC/SWC 2019 in Chile
As many as two Chilean government ministers welcomed attendees to the joint SHC 2019 and SWC 2019 conference in the capital of Santiago this week: Energy Minister Juan Carlos Jobet and Science Minister Andrés Couve. While it is rare to see high-ranking officials attend research conferences on solar technology, the …
Encouraging faster materials development for compact storage
Research and industry experts in thermochemical storage materials are invited to participate in a workshop that will take place on 11 and 12 November in Erlangen, Germany. The objective of the event will be to outline a road map to a Thermal Energy Storage Materials Acceleration Platform (TESMAP), said Wim …
Global support for solar cooling in sunbelt regions
Transferring knowledge and solar cooling technology to sunbelt countries in Africa, on the Mediterranean coast and in Asia will be the main aim of a new research platform planned by the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling programme (IEA SHC). This topic also fits under the roof of the Innovation Challenge …
Solar planning experts meet in France
Between 22 and 24 October, the University of Savoie Mont Blanc in Le Bourget-du-Lac, France, will be the venue for the first meeting about research platform Solar Neighborhood Planning. Professor Christophe Ménézo, who is organising the event, is inviting experts from a wide variety of research fields and business sectors, …
Webinar: How to use facades to generate solar energy
The focus of the next IEA SHC Solar Academy webinar will be on the assessment, onsite monitoring and simulation of building-integrated solar systems. On 18 September, three experts who work for Task 56, Building Integrated Solar Envelope Systems for HVAC and Lighting, will share their findings in a 1.5-hour webinar …
Danish SDH market reaches new milestone
Denmark has consolidated its lead in the global solar district heating market, as capacity topped 1 GWth in August. The 112 solar district heating plants that are now in operation throughout the country total 1.1 GWth (around 1.6 million m²), according to statistics regularly updated by Daniel Trier, who works …
Best practice examples of urban solar projects exceed expectations
Researchers working for the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling programme have created a list of urban solar heat projects that not only met but exceeded the ambitious aims set for them initially: Seven best-practice examples and two scoping studies of systems in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland became part …
SHC solar award: Six successful business models
The focus of this year’s Solar Award of the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (IEA SHC) will be on technology suppliers and financial service providers that have created successful financing mechanisms. The jury has chosen six finalists, one of which will be presented with the SHC Solar Award at …
