The European Parliament is planning to vote on a revised Renewable Energy Directive next February. About 1,300 amendments had been submitted until July 2017 related to the first draft of the revised directive from November 2016. The amendments are currently discussed by the members of the ITRE (Industry, Research and Energy) Committee.
Sint SolarSeptember saw the commissioning of Ukraine’s largest solar thermal system. Its 252 flat plate units add up to 518 m² of gross collector area and supply heat to the showers and kitchens at Mariupol, a major trading port on the Sea of Azov, near the Black Sea. The renovation of the boiler building hasn’t been completed yet, so that the solar installation will only be fully operational next year.
Usually, solar district heating (SDH) plants require large fields for collector installations, which has raised concerns at local level because of competing land uses and a system’s potential visual impact on the surroundings. One way out of this dilemma is to combine heat generation and fruit and vegetable harvest. As part of "SDHp2m…From Policy to Market, a Horizon 2020"-project, some regions are looking to create regulations based on best practice examples of land use or spatial heat planning. This article will present showcases from the Styria region in Austria, Hamburg in Germany and Valle d’Aosta in Italy).
What role solar thermal will play in the energy sector in 2050 is one of the principal questions that the international Task 52 research project Solar Heat and Energy Economics in Urban Environments intends to answer. As part of this IEA Solar Heating & Cooling Programme task, Denmark’s Aalborg University chose four major solar thermal countries in Europe – Austria, Denmark, Germany and Italy – to model their 2050 solar share in national heat production. The university’s estimates range from 3 to 12 % based on country and scenario, which would require 4 to 175 million m² of collector area in each of the four nations.
Professor Pavel Kazantsev is an enthusiastic teacher of solar and sustainable architecture at the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) in Vladivostok, Russia. He encourages his students during the 3-year course on the Fundamentals of Sustainable Architecture to create eco-friendly designs for residential and commercial buildings. The first course was offered 25 years ago, in 1992, at the Far Eastern National Technical University, which became part of FEFU in 2011.
Urban planning is a highly complex issue, especially if it involves low-carbon living solutions and environmental regulations. The main objective of the international group of researchers working in Task 51, Solar Energy in Urban Planning, has been to “support planners, architects, and local and national authorities in creating urban areas with architecturally integrated solar solutions in mind.” In mid-September, task coordinator Maria Wall, Professor at the Energy and Building Design department of Sweden’s Lund University, and other researchers presented successful case studies and suitable planning and design tools during a webinar. A recording and the presentations from it are available at the IEA SHC Solar Academy page.
The Intersolar AWARD is celebrating its anniversary: For the tenth time running, the panel honored particularly groundbreaking solutions. Submissions were invited for products, services, concepts and solutions which have already been tested and are being presented for the first time, or which expand the use of existing technologies in an innovative way.
Here you can find a small selection of comprehensive market overvies from the solar thermal sector:
Market Overview: Vacuum Tube Collectors
Market Overview: Flat Plate Collectors
Market Overview: Solar Stations
Photovoltaic Feed