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:

IEA SHC Task 46: Solar Irradiation Data Helps Schedule and Operate Solar Thermal Plants

IEA SHC Task 46: Solar Irradiation Data Helps Schedule and Operate Solar Thermal Plants

IEA SHC Task 46, Solar Resource Assessment and Forecasting, is an SHC project conducted in cooperation with IEA’s SolarPACES for Concentrating Solar Power and the Photovoltaic Power Systems programme. Accurate assessment and forecasting of solar irradiation is a key issue in planning and operating solar electricity and solar thermal plants …
Germany: Polymer Collector Design for EUR 25 Production

Germany: Polymer Collector Design for EUR 25 Production

During project ExKoll, scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Fraunhofer ISE, have developed a new low-cost design for solar thermal collectors. The entire production of an 80 cm x 160 cm collector made of polypropylene (PP, drawing on the right) with an operating temperature resistance of up …
Austria: Task 42 Meeting on Compact Thermal Energy Storage Systems

Austria: Task 42 Meeting on Compact Thermal Energy Storage Systems

IEA-SHC Task 42, entitled Compact Thermal Energy Storage, has entered into its final year and will end in December 2015. In February 2015, 44 scientists met for the 13th Experts Task Meeting in Vienna, Austria, to discuss the characterisation and development of materials for latent heat storage systems. This included …
China: First Chinese Solar Cooling Conference to Take Place in Shanghai in March

China: First Chinese Solar Cooling Conference to Take Place in Shanghai in March

This spring, a major event for solar cooling is going to take place in Shanghai: From 23 to 27 March 2015, the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) will jointly organise a Solar Cooling Week in the city. The week is going to …
Norway: Research Community Visits Estate Built with Polymer Collectors

Norway: Research Community Visits Estate Built with Polymer Collectors

Norwegian collector manufacturer Aventa and the University of Oslo’s Department of Physics jointly hosted two meetings in the middle of October: The meeting of Task 39 (Polymeric Materials for Solar Thermal Applications) of the International Energy Agency’s Solar Heating and Cooling programme (IEA SHC), as well as the meeting of …
Australia: Ken Guthrie Appointed as New Chairman of IEA SHC Programme

Australia: Ken Guthrie Appointed as New Chairman of IEA SHC Programme

It was the second time an Australian was chosen to head the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme of the International Energy Agency (IEA SHC Programme): In June, Ken Guthrie was elected Chair of the Executive Committee for the next two years. Guthrie founder and Director of Sustainable Energy Transformation, a …
Worldwide: Initiators of Solar Process Heat Database Look to Add More Reference Projects

Worldwide: Initiators of Solar Process Heat Database Look to Add More Reference Projects

The middle of March saw the launch of the online database http://www.ship-plants.info, which has so far collected 122 projects using Solar Heat for Industrial Processes (SHIP). The database was created in the frame of Task 49/IV of the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme by the International Energy Agency. The energy …
Sweden: Multi-Family Buildings Use Low Return Temperatures to Optimise Solar Yield

Sweden: Multi-Family Buildings Use Low Return Temperatures to Optimise Solar Yield

A greater difference of supply and return temperature in a heating circuit increases the share of energy which can be utilised from a solar thermal system or another renewable energy source. With this in mind, Swedish company Alfa Laval developed the highly efficient heat interface unit called Mini City and …
COPANT: One Common Standard - Better than 31 Different Ones?

COPANT: One Common Standard – Better than 31 Different Ones?

To date, solar thermal energy has been a largely unregulated technology in Latin America. Most of the countries in the region are suffering from nationalised, uncoordinated and sometimes insufficient quality standards. This lack of agreement is hindering the development of a shared and mature market. The regional Pan American Standards …
Tunisia Funds Solar Process Heat

Tunisia Funds Solar Process Heat

Tunisia is venturing into another completely new solar thermal application area: solar process heat. After having started the national support programme Prosol first in 2005 for residential solar water heaters, then in 2009 for hotels, hamams (Turkish baths), academic houses and hospitals, Prosol Industry is now already the third scheme …
European Energy Label: A+++ for Solar Packages in 2015

European Energy Label: A+++ for Solar Packages in 2015

On 6 September 2013, the official journal of the European Commission published the regulations for the eco-design and energy labelling of water, space and combi heaters under the Ecodesign Directive (2005/32/EC). The documents were also translated into all EU-member states’ languages. Until now, this has been the latest official step …
Germany: Task 39 Showcases Solar Collectors Made of Polymers

Germany: Task 39 Showcases Solar Collectors Made of Polymers

An exhibition taking place as part of the International Conference on Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC) 2013 between 23 and 25 September 2013 unveiled how solar collectors manufactured from plastic materials may look like in the future. Under the motto Efficiency and Design, the exhibits provided an insight into research …