The event is being held from 23 September to 25 September in Freiburg, Germany. It will be followed by the 5th International Conference Solar Air Conditioning, which will take place from 25 to 27 in Bad Krozingen, which is located about 20 minutes southwest of Freiburg.
“We are planning to have the SHC conference in Europe once every two years. I am looking forward to welcoming colleagues from all over the world to Freiburg, Germany, the city in which a large part of the success story of solar energy was written,” said Andreas Häberle, CEO of Freiburg-based company PSE, the organiser of the SHC conference.
The first conference of the International Energy Agency Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (IEA SHC) took place in San Francisco, California, in 2012. The solar thermal event gathered 220 scientists, industry specialists, market experts and policy makers from 31 countries.
During a blind review process, a scientific committee selected the 90 presentations to be held at this year’s SHC conference - out of 300 abstracts submitted from altogether 50 countries.
“With so many interesting abstracts, it was hard to decide which presentations to choose. It is definitely very encouraging to see so many excellent researchers and scientist around the world working on solar heating and cooling technology and its applications,” said Hans-Martin Henning, Scientific Chair of the SHC 2013 and Deputy Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) in Freiburg, Germany.
The topics of the conference range from components and system technology, to applications such as cooling, process heat and solar architecture.
“The conference’s topics will reflect the entire diversity of solar thermal in the IEA SHC Programme,” said Werner Weiss, Chairman of the IEA SHC Programme and Managing Director of AEE – Institute for Sustainable Technologies (AEE INTEC) in Gleisdorf, Austria.
This year, the SHC event will incorporate the European Solar Thermal Energy Conference, which is organised by the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) based in Brussels, Belgium.
It offers both market reports and lectures on framework conditions, as well as a conference session dedicated to industry issues.
“The market framework and policy sessions should be the occasion to reflect upon the opportunities and the future trends for our industry in current and new markets, such as Egypt and Italy, but also in current and new market segments, such as new buildings and multi-family houses,” said Xavier Noyon. Noyon is Industry Chair of the SHC 2013 and Secretary General of ESTIF.
The conference will also feature a large poster exhibition, plenary lectures and side events on specific issues concerning solar thermal, an industry member session and a panel discussion.
The programme is available online.
