Projects to support ESTIF's work for the solar thermal industry

ESTIF is currently involved in a few selected projects, which allow us to acquire public money for important activities of ESTIF. These projects are typically co-funded by the European Community's 'Intelligent Energy - Europe' Programme or the 6th EU Framework Programm for Research and Technological Development (FP6).

• Key Issues for Renewable Heat in Europe (K4RES-H)
• New Generation of Solar Thermal Systems (NEGST)
• SOLARGE - Enlarging Solar Thermal Systems for Multi-Family-Houses, Hotels, Public and Social Buildings
• SolarKeymark-II

These projects partly finance, e.g. our collection and publication of market data, work on standards & certification and - most importantly - the development of highly relevant recommendations for solar thermal policies throughout Europe.

 

We are thankful to the European Commission for their support. At the same time these funds can only supplement our most important source of income: the contribution from the ESTIF members!

Introduction

The K4RES-H project analyses public policies supporting renewable heating and cooling (RES-H), identifies best practice and develops concrete guidelines applicable at local, regional, national and European level. The project has a cross-sectoral nature, as it analyses a number of key issues, first looking in parallel at the different RES-H technologies: solar thermal, biomass and geothermal, and then integrating the results for policy guidelines applicable to RES-H in general.

 

 

The 5 Key Issues for Renewable Heating and Cooling

K4RES-H is built around the analyses of five Key Issues crucial to the success of policies aimed at promoting renewable heating and cooling:

• Verifiable targets for RES-H: Market monitoring, statistics and methods for target setting
• Quantifying the energy delivery of individual RES-H installations: Methods for measurement and calculation
• Regulations: Best practice to promote RES-H, identification of regulations hampering RES-H usage
• Financial incentives: Best practice to promote RES-H
• Innovative RES-H Applications: Issues specific to upcoming RES-H applications, like renewable cooling

These Key Issues are analysed separately for each of the three main RES-H technologies (solar thermal, bioheat and geothermal heat), but based on a common methodology that guarantees that the results of the analysis are comparable and can be integrated into guidelines for RES-H in general.

 

Further information: The central K4RES-H website is managed by the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC).

 

The K4RES-H project is supported by:

Introduction

The overall objective of this project is to introduce more cost-effective solar thermal systems, particularly for domestic hot water preparation and / or  space heating, to the market. ESTIF participates in this project in order to ensure that the "next generation of solar thermal STANDARDS", which are the subject of work package 4, are really relevant to the market participants and reflect the interest of the solar thermal industry in Europe.

 

In order to achieve the ambitious goals of this project the consortium consists of leading solar thermal experts form research and test institutes as well as industry participants from several European countries. The project activities will be closely linked to the work of the IEA SH&C Task 32 (Advanced storage concepts for solar thermal systems in low energy buildings) and with regard to standardisation work to CEN TC 312 (Thermal solar systems and components).

 

Further information: The central NEGST website is managed by Solar- und Wärmetechnik Stuttgart (SWT).

 

The NEGST project is supported by:

Introduction

SOLARGE is a European co-operation project to open up markets for large solar thermal plants, focussing on installations from 30 m² collector surface area upwards for e.g. hot water supply, heating system support and cooling for multi-family buildings, hotels, public and social buildings (for example old people’s homes and hospitals).

SOLARGE supports this undertaking with information, training and communications measures. Investments in plants, research and demonstration projects cannot be supported.

SOLARGE motivates investors, suppliers and decision-makers in politics and administration to use the market potential of large solar thermal installations.

SOLARGE produces materials that can be used by interested institutions for their own activities.

Eleven partners from eight European countries are working on the SOLARGE project, which runs from January 2005 to December 2007.

 

Further information: The central SOLARGE website is managed by target GmbH. There you will find - amongst many other interesting information - the SOLARGE leaflet.

 

The SOLARGE project is supported by:

Introduction

This project aims at opening up the European market for solar thermal quality products. At the time the project started, the market was still fragmented due to different national and regional requirements in (buildings) regulation and financial incentive schemes. Germany and Spain have recently announced to fully accept Solar Keymark’ed products in their national support programmes/building regulations. When these announcements are implemented the most important trade barriers will be history. By removing barriers to trade, consumers will have improved access to solar thermal quality products resulting in a higher uptake of solar thermal energy in the EU.

 

Recently European Standards for solar thermal products were established, and the CEN ‘Solar Keymark’, which certifies conformity with these standards has been introduced. However the acceptance of these standards is not yet universal, and some conflicts remain between the EN Standards and local regulations and requirements, now mainly in regional/municipal support programmes. Products, which are Keymark’ed but do not meet the local requirements are still not eligible for financial support and cannot compete with eligible products.

 

SolarKeymark-II main activities:

• Analysis of existing trade barriers – taking into account the 4 years of experiences with the Solar Keymark
  Improvement of Solar Keymark scheme rules and closer coordination of European Standards and national/regional requirement in order to make them more flexible and more attractive to solar thermal manufacturers.
• Coordinated national implementations of the Council Directive 2002/91/EC on the energy performance of buildings with respect to solar thermal and a unified calculation procedure
• Promotion of the Solar Keymark to the European solar industry on the one hand and to (national) authorities administering solar thermal support programmes.

For further information on the Solar Keymark, and especially the SolarKeymark-II project: Please visit www.solarkeymark.org and have a look at the new Solar Keymark brochure, which gives a good overview of the Solar Keymark, its benefits and costs as well as the certification process. A Spanish version of the brochure is also available.

 

The SolarKeymark-II project is supported by: