The European Solar Thermal Energy Conference estec2007 will be the most important event of 2007 for the solar thermal sector worldwide. The new directive for heating and cooling with renewable energy of the European Union, which is under development, and the strong market growth reaching 80% in France and 60% in Spain, Germany and UK show the fast growing interest in solar thermal energy. estec2007 will present information about solar thermal markets worldwide, as well as policy, industrial and technological developments. In addition to this, the European Solar Thermal Technology Platform, ESTTP, will present its latest findings. Registration is possible at www.estec2007.org.
A high-profile programme has been put together by the programme committee. estec provides an international platform to discuss the latest developments in the solar thermal sector. The two-day conference is aimed at experts and decision-makers in the fields of industry, research and politics. The future development of the European and worldwide markets, the most efficient market launch programmes, new collector and storage technologies as well as process heat and solar air conditioning are important topics affecting the industry.
Before the opening of the estec2007 conference itself, there will be a workshop of the European Solar Thermal Technology Platform (ESTTP) on the morning of 19th June. ESTTP was launched last year. Experts from across Europe are working together to develop a common vision for solar thermal technology for 2030. It is their task to work out a strategic research agenda and a strategy for the future development of the European solar thermal markets. Preliminary results will be presented at the ESTTP-workshop.
Incentive programmes like the French “plan soleil” can mark the beginning of the boom for national industries, if accompanied by qualification programmes to educate craftsmen in the professional installation of solar thermal systems. Richard Loyen of the French solar industry association ENERPLAN will present the “Qualisol” qualification programme, which was started by the French governmental energy agency, ADEME, in January 2006, at estec2007.
Standardized concepts for solar thermal systems with more than 50 square metres of collector area have been the researched topic by the EU-project NEGST. Project coordinator Jan Schindl of the Austrian research centre, Arsenal research, will be presenting the results. For this project, good practice systems in Austria, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and in Spain have been examined and experts have been questioned about their experiences with various system concepts.
The 3rd European Solar Thermal Conference, estec2007, will take place from 19-20 June 2007 in Freiburg, Germany. The conference is being held prior to Intersolar 2007, Europe’s largest trade fair for solar technology, which takes place at the Exhibition Centre from 21-23 June.
The conference is supported by the European Community under their Intelligent Energy – Europe programme as well as by the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign 2005-2008.
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