The day before the ESTIF General Assembly, one of the workshops organised was focused on solar district heating.

The goal of this workshop was get more information and also discuss the development in solar district heating, considering that this is one of the most promising segments in the solar sector.

The discussion, moderated by ESTIF Board member Stephan Fintelmann, from KBB, included an interesting exchange of views on the prospects for District Heating in Europe with Eloi Piel, from Euroheat and Power, the association representing district heating at European level. Considering the legislative package presented by the European Commission just before the workshop, the discussion also included a first view on the proposals related to heating and cooling and district heating.

The discussion also addressed trends for Solar District Heating, based on the German case, based on the input provided by Thomas Pauschinger, from Solites, which unfortunately could not participate in the discussion due to health reasons.

Finally, with a view on the future, there was a presentation on technology challenges for SDH and large solar thermal applications, based on the proposals from the ESTTP (European Solar Thermal Technology Panel). This presentation was done by Kaj Pischow from Savo-Solar and member of the ESTTP Steering Committee.

One of the highlights of the workshop was the presentation by Christian Holter from SOLID, regarding extra-large solar district heating solutions and in particular the case of Big Solar in Graz, Austria. This project, bringing SDH to sizes that were unimaginable some years ago, brought inspiration to the participants and provided a different perspective to this kind of market segment.

The presentations during this workshop can be found here. For additional inquiries, please contact the ESTIF secretariat at members(at)estif.org.