Discussing CSTS development and policy at Hotel du Grand Sablon, Brussels

Transcription

1 Issue 4 December 2007 N E W S L E T T E R European SOLARGE Seminar on Large Solar Thermal Systems! Contents European SOLARGE Seminar on Large Solar Thermal Systems!... 1 Promoting SOLARGE Official Partner of the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign... 2 The first European Solar Days, May ManagEnergy Case Study... 3 Reports from the SOLARGE Partners Germany... 4 Italy... 5 Netherlands... 5 Project Consortium... 5 Imprint, Disclaimer... 5 Supported by Discussing CSTS development and policy at Hotel du Grand Sablon, Brussels As part of the work package 5 Proposals for Effective Policy SOLARGE dedicated a seminar to discussing barriers, national markets and achievements with the target group of policy makers, industry and media representatives as well as experts at EU level. The seminar took place on the 27 th of November 2007 in the Hotel du Grand Sablon in Brussels and was organised by the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF). The seminar welcomed some 60 participants from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Key elements of the morning session were presentations of the policy advice report developed by the German SOLARGE partners and the Spanish experiences in a market with solar obligations. The second half of the seminar addressed the specific steps and achievements of the SOLARGE project as well as various national markets and their approaches to large solar thermal systems. The following discussions centred on the exchange of experiences, specific market development strategies and the role of policy to push the markets. All presentations held at the seminar can be downloaded from the SOLARGE website ( SOLARGE-N E W S L E T T E R Issue 4 December 2007

2 Promoting SOLARGE Official Partner of the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign The Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign (SEE) is a communicative tool launched by the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy and Transport to complement financial support with awareness raising and promotion to create a broad public alliance for sustainable energy. The project consortium of SOLARGE decided to apply becoming an official campaign partner, which includes a voluntary commitment to support the objectives of the SEE. End of October 2007 the European Commission officially welcomed SOLARGE as a SEE Campaign Partner. This acknowledgement will enhance the dissemination commitment of the project since results and achievements will be widely promoted through the campaign channels. Currently the SEE has some 380 Partnerships and 70 Campaign Associates and thus represents roughly 5,000 single actors from all levels in Europe. End of January 2008, the European Union Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) will be organised by the SEE in Brussels as well as eight other countries as the major reference point for decision makers and stakeholders in the field of sustainable energy. 28 January 1 February 2008 European Union Sustainable Energy Week years of European business support For more on the EUSEW, which will take place in Brussels (and in other cities across Europe) from the 28th of January until the 1st of February, please visit Environmental Technologies Action Plan Register on poster_eusew_ indd 1 15/10/07 11:00:43 SOLARGE-N E W S L E T T E R Issue 4 December 2007

3 Promoting SOLARGE The first European Solar Days, May 2008 The first Tag der Sonne was celebrated in Austria in The idea was then taken up by Switzerland and Germany where, in each case, a whole week is now dedicated to this successful renewable energy awareness raising campaign. It is now time to bring the Solar Days to the rest of Europe with Belgium, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia ready to go in Other countries are expected to join the initiative in 2009 and it is planned to extend the Solar Days throughout Europe in the future. A special kick-off event will be staged on 16 th of May 2008, not only in Brussels but also in the capital cities of all the countries involved within the frame of the European Union Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW). The European Solar Days, which are coordinated by ESTIF in close cooperation with the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA), are supported by 25 organisations at national and European level. ManagEnergy Case Study In September 2007, a presentation of SOLARGE was published as Case Study No. 268 on the European Commission s ManagEnergy website. This highlights the importance of experiences and best practice in the field of large solar thermal systems and represents a great opportunity for disseminating the project s results. ManagEnergy was launched in 2002 by the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy and Transport on request of Energy Management Agencies across Europe. Key elements are training workshops and online events. The annual budget is about 1.7 million Euros. Some 3,500 organisations, including 380 energy agencies, are found in the ManagEnergy partner search system. The website is viewed by some 40,000 visitors each week and represents a top quality communication channel at European level. More on Interested in staging a European Solar Days event yourself? Go to for more information and for the contact details in your country or contact Monika Kloss, European Communications Manager, ESTIF, monika.kloss@estif.org. SOLARGE-N E W S L E T T E R Issue 4 December

4 Reports from the SOLARGE Partners Germany: Successful Promotional Campaign in Berlin The most ambitious and convincing solar agents received an award for their work an adventure travel trip. After the assessment of the youngsters some feasibility checks were started already at four larger buildings. The action of GASAG and Berlin Energy Agency on Erdgas+Solar XXL has already shown considerable A clever strategy involving young people as solar agents has been very successful in Berlin. If all potential buildings targeted are to be equipped with a solar installation, the segment for collective solar thermal systems (CSTS) will increase by the factor ten in the upcoming years in Berlin. Berlin: Feasibility check on a multi-family house Berlin: Solar agents receiving an award A joint promotional activity of the SOLARGE partner Berlin Energy Agency and the local utility GASAG within the overall campaign Erdgas+Solar XXL was to specifically address young people: 250 school pupils were trained to become solar agents. The aim was to increase awareness of the next generation for the need to use more renewable energies as well as to find potential sites for large solar thermal installations in Berlin. With a lot of commitment as well as fun, the solar agents identified 43 suitable buildings. success. Within 2007 six sponsored new large solar thermal systems with a total collector area of 255 square metres were installed and additional 55 feasibility checks have been carried out or are under preparation. After the action of the solar agents, even more sites are now being targeted. In the past only some five CSTS were installed in Berlin per year concludes Michael Geißler, Managing Director of the Energy Agency of Berlin, But if all the current feasibility studies trigger investment, we will increase the market share tenfold within the next couple of years. Erdgas+Solar XXL seems to become a very successful and sustainable local implementation of the SOLARGE project: GASAG will continue to promote CSTS within the frame of Erdgas+Solar XXL until 2015 as part of their climate protection commitment Berlin verpflichtet. For more information on the campaign see SOLARGE Seminars for Housing Industry Berlin: Discovering suitable roofs In October and November of 2007, SOLARGE partners Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft and target GmbH organised two seminars for housing companies, facility managers, engineers, architects and other related professions on the topic of large-scale solar thermal systems in the housing sector. Both seminars (one in Hannover, one in Stuttgart) welcomed 18 participants each to discuss and learn the issues of technology and application possibilities, practical experiences, economic viability, components and systems, quality assurance as well as best practice examples. The feedback given by the participants was very positive and the mix of various professional stakeholders underlined the aspect of learning with and from each other. SOLARGE-N E W S L E T T E R Issue 4 December

5 Italy: SOLARGE at ECOMONDO and SENAF SOLARGE is continuously being promoted in Italy. On 8 th of November 2007, the project was presented at the ECOMONDO trade fair and exhibition in Rimini. ECOMONDO is one of the main Italian events in the field of environmental protection. It is attended by both, professionals and public administrators. Within ECOMONDO, a new event called Key Energy with the focus on renewables has been launched in SOLARGE was presented in the framework of this new platform. On 30 th of November 2007, SOLARGE presented itself at the SENAF exhibition in Rome. This event especially deals with heating and cooling technologies, thus being suitable for solar thermal promotion. SOLARGE was presented at the conference discussion Solare termico: il nuovo quadro normativo e gli sviluppi tecnologici and at the stand of the Italian solar thermal association Assolterm. Incentives confirmed until 2010 As the Italian government announced, the current incentives for solar thermal plants and energy efficiency measures in buildings (tax deduction of 55 % of investment costs within three years) have now been guaranteed up to A new regulation includes reducing bureaucratic barriers, since no energy performance certificate of the building will be required to receive the incentives anymore. Although the certification is a very good measure to make the energy performance clearly visible, it should not become a de facto barrier for measures intended to reduce conventional energy demand. Therefore, this change is good news for solar thermal. The previous mechanism was supposed to strongly boost the market but did not meet the expected results, as a large amount of purchasers decided to install solar systems renouncing the fiscal incentives. Netherlands: Ten SOLARGE Workshops Together with the Dutch Building Research Foundation, SOLARGE partner Ecofys organised a series of training workshops on renewable energy and large-scale solar thermal systems with the aim to increase the awareness in the construction sector on solar thermal energy and heat pumps and to provide practical knowledge. Ecofys represented SOLARGE in ten workshops in various parts of the country, covering technical, aesthetical, financial and organisational issues. All participants received an information box including the SOLARGE image brochure, the FAQ leaflet and a subscription form for a follow-up in-depth training. The audience consisted of 611 representatives of building companies, installers and architects. An evaluation of the events shows a high satisfaction and increased awareness on renewable energy and their role in meeting the ever more ambitious building standards. Project Consortium Belgium / Brussels ESTIF Denmark Rambøll Danmark A/S France ADEME ENERPLAN Germany Berliner Energieagentur GmbH Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft e. V. (BSW) target GmbH (coordination) Italy Ambiente Italia srl The Netherlands Ecofys Netherlands BV Slovenia University of Ljubljana Spain Ecofys S. L. Disclaimer Imprint Published and edited by target GmbH Bodo Grimmig, Marion Elle Walderseestraße 7 D Hannover Phone: December 2007 European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) Uwe Trenkner Renewable Energy House Rue d Arlon B-1040 Brussels Phone: The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Communities. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. SOLARGE-N E W S L E T T E R Issue 4 December