Nominated projects for Solar Award described in Solar Update Newsletter
The IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme has nominated four outstanding projects from Australia, France, Namibia and South Africa for the Solar Award 2022. The nominated projects aimed at reducing energy use and costs in social housing. The winner will be announced during the Eurosun 2022 conference in Kassel, Germany, on 27 September 2022. One of the nominated projects is the new residential neighbourhood Melville Place in South Africa with a total of 346 apartments (see photo). The houses provide low and middle-income working residents with affordable yet modern housing. A solar hot water system with 343 m2 of vacuum tube collectors are distributed across the separate blocks and backed up by heat pumps. The four short-listed projects are described in detail in the latest issue of Solar Update, Vol. 75, which is available for download here.
Photo: https://staymelville.co.za/ / Solar Update
The 29-page Solar Update newsletter also includes key features from the Solar Heat Worldwide 2022 report and highlights solar initiatives from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa. Many Southern African countries are member of IEA SHC via the SADC Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (SACREEE).
Largest global solar heat research network
The IEA SHC Programme is the largest solar thermal research network worldwide, spread over six continents (see map below). More than 200 scientists and industry representatives collaborate in research platforms on a wide range of topics: industrial water management, industrial solar heat, compact thermal energy storage, efficient district heating networks, solar cooling for sunbelt regions, solar neighbourhoods and solar energy buildings.
Countries are members of the IEA SHC Programme either directly or via sponsor organisations Source: IEA SHC
Spotlight on Namibia
Namibia is the first Southern African country where the government has committed to reaching the 2030 target described in the Solar Thermal Technology Roadmap of February 2019. It aims at achieving 1.5 million m2 of collector area installed at residential and commercial institutions, mines, hotels and hospitals etc. by 2030. Roadmaps were also published for Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe within the Southern African Solar Thermal Training and Demonstration Initiative (Soltrain).
Supported by Soltrain, the private sector in Namibia has made major investments in solar water heating solutions. The most recent installation is a system at the Katutura State Hospital Maternity Ward. Installed in May 2022, the pumped solar water heating is a hybrid system that relies on 120 m2 of collector area as the first heating priority and a heat pump as a second priority. Another outstanding installation is a 210 m2 pumped solar water heating system at the Lady Pohamba Private Hospital in Windhoek (see photo below).
Largest pumped solar water heating system in the country: 210 m2 on the North Block of the hospital together with 15,000 litres of hot water storage to supply different sections of the hospital, which has 115 beds. Photo: Soltrain
Organisations mentioned in this news article:
Eurosun 2022: https://www.eurosun2022.org/
SHC Award: https://www.iea-shc.org/solar-award
IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme https://www.iea-shc.org/
SADC Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency https://www.sacreee.org/
Southern African Solar Thermal Training and Demonstration Initiative https://soltrain.org/
