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  • EU to have 35 million building units renovated by 2030
    October 28, 2020

    EU to have 35 million building units renovated by 2030

    This October saw the unfolding of two landmark events that will have a major impact on renewable energy markets for decades to come. On 14 October, the Renovation Wave communication was published, its aim being to “at least double the annual energy renovation rate of residential and non-...
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  • Improved design for giga-size pit heat storage
    October 27, 2020

    Improved design for giga-size pit heat storage

    Denmark’s cost-effective, tried-and-true seasonal pit heat storage concept needs to be modified if it is to be implemented across Europe, since district heat temperatures are higher and groundwater may be only 5 to 15 metres from the surface. The members of research platform Task 55 (...
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  • “Use mandates to boost established markets, but not to build up new once”
    October 23, 2020

    “Use mandates to boost established markets, but not to build up new ones”

    Ten years after Hawaii’s Solar Hot Water Mandate was issued the Hawaii Solar Energy Association won a lawsuit to weed out a fatal flaw of the regulation that required all new single-family homes to install a solar water heater since 2010 unless one of four variances can be met. The flaw was...
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  • Three SDH plants under development in Croatia
    October 22, 2020

    Three SDH plants under development in Croatia

    District heating operators in Croatia have shown great interest in solar energy. Under the auspices of an EU-funded two-and-a-half-year project called KeepWarm, three feasibility studies on solar district heating (DH) ventures are currently underway in the country, whereas endeavours in the...
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  • Solar-heated multi-family buildings gain popularity in Germany
    October 18, 2020

    Solar-heated multi-family buildings gain popularity in Germany

    Many new largely solar-heated houses in Germany are multi-family buildings, and their number is growing, according to Sonnenhaus-Institut (Solar House Institute), an alliance of about 300 architects, planners, building companies and system integrators that specialise in the design or...
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  • Solar houses: above 95 % solar fraction is possible
    October 7, 2020

    Solar houses: above 95 % solar fraction is possible

    Between 2014 and 2019, the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund supported the construction of over 100 solar-heated houses, 19 of which were monitored following completion. Regardless of whether it was a lightweight or a brick house that was put up, the rooftop or facade collector system...
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  • Benefits of 4G and 5G heat networks
    October 5, 2020

    Benefits of 4G and 5G heat networks

    Fourth-generation heat networks, which operate at about 60 °C, reduce heat losses, extend pipe life and create the best conditions for clean energy use. The photo shows one of these grids, which has been running in a neighbourhood in Villach, southern Austria, since the beginning of 2018....
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  • Guidelines on how to assess renewable district heat potential
    October 3, 2020

    Guidelines on how to assess renewable district heat potential

    As district heat will be one of the key pillars of a decarbonised heat sector, authorities, utilities and energy service providers are eager to explore the opportunities that local sources of clean energy could provide for the DH market. To this end, a consortium led by consultancy Ambiente...
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  • Four years of global SDH research summarised in online workshop and factsheets
    September 30, 2020

    Four years of global SDH research summarised in online workshop and factsheets

    On Thursday, 15 October 2020, an online technology transfer workshop about large solar district heating networks will provide attendees with the perfect opportunity to listen to the key takeaways from four-year IEA SHC research platform Task 55 – Towards the Integration of Large Solar...
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  • World´s largest solar district heating plant with concentrating collectors
    September 25, 2020

    World´s largest solar district heating plant with concentrating collectors

    The Chinese parabolic trough collector manufacturer Inner Mongolia XuChen Energy  has successfully operated a huge solar district heating plant since 2016 in a village near Baotou in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of China. Yu Wang, General Manager of XuChen, said that there is...
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  • Thermal storage for flexible sector integration
    September 19, 2020

    Thermal storage for flexible sector integration

    In his keynote speech at Eurosun 2020, Dr Andreas Hauer talked about the different roles that heat storage could play as part of a whole systems approach to energy policy. Thermal energy storage, or TES, can reduce energy consumers’ dependence on volatile heat sources and align heat with...
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