The first "Tag der Sonne" was celebrated in Austria in 2002. The idea was then taken up by Switzerland and Germany where, in the case of Germany a whole week is now dedicated to this successful renewable energy awareness-raising campaign. The European Solar Days take the concept to a European level. The project is aimed at promoting the use of the sun as an energy source for all solar applications, Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic, throughout Europe.

The first European Solar Days were celebrated on 16-17 May 2008 when a quarter million European citizens participated in 4500 events staged in a dozen countries throughout Europe.

In 2009, the European Solar Days will be held - in even more countries - on 15-22 May.

For further information - and the links to the national solar day websites: see www.solardays.eu.

Solar thermal ordinances (also known as "solar obligations") are now a major tool for the development of solar thermal markets. The overall objective of ProSTO is to support European local authorities in planning, developing, introducing and managing efficient solar thermal ordinances (STOs).

A large number of tools will be available on the website (see STO database, STO toolbox and STO helpdesk) and five best practice STOs will be developed by the participating local authorities in cooperation with scientific partners.

The project started on 1 January 2008.

Further information: The central ProSTO project website ist managed by Ambiente Italia.

The project aims at the improved dissemination and uptake of selected RES R&D in the market. The project consortium works towards establishing a technology marketing campaign for the different RE technologies involved.

The project applies on the one hand a sectoral approach that deals with the most recent developments in the Photovoltaic, Small Hydropower, Wind, Biomass, Geothermal energy, and Solar thermal energy sectors, and on the other hand a geographical approach. The geographical approach focuses on actions in the New Member States of the EU, in European Islands, and actions outside the EU.

The project was launched 1 June 2006.

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

In May 2006, the European Solar Thermal Technology Plattform (ESTTP) was officially launched. The platform's objective is the development of a Roadmap for Solar Thermal in Europe, addressing technological and non-technological issues. The first step was to evolve a common Solar Thermal Vision 2030. A Strategic Research Agenda is being developed identifying the type of R&D required for the vision to materialise.

The SecESTTP project was set up to support the ESTTP in carrying out its work.

For further information: Please see the ESTTP website.

With the transformation of the Central and Eastern European economies in the 1990s, the often thriving solar thermal markets came to an almost complete halt. Signs of recovery and even strong growth, e.g. in Poland, are seen today.The TRANS-SOLAR project aims at supporting this development by transferring know-how in the manufacturing and marketing of solar thermal products from the old EU Member States to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Information packages are compiled and a series of workshops and trade missions to the 7 CEE partner countries will be organised in the course of this project.

The project started on 1 December 2007

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).

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).

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.

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.