Solar Thermal – abundant energy for heating and cooling

Ole Pilgaard

European Solar Thermal Industry Federation

Solar energy today

Solar energy can be used in different ways:

• Photovoltaic (direct conversion of light into electricity)

• Solar thermal power (steam turbines using solar energy as heat source to produce electricity)

• But by far the largest application of solar energy is for thermal use: heating and cooling (“Solar Thermal”)

World wide solar energy production 2004

0

10.000

20.000

30.000

40.000

50.000

60.000

70.000

80.000

PV STP ST

GWh

Typical applications of solar thermal

Domestic hot water, space heating

Emerging applications of solar thermal

• Solar industrial process heat• Solar desalination• Solar cooling

Heating sector: the neglected giant

20%

49%

31%

electricity

heating

transport

EU-25: shares of final energy consumption

(Includes 130 Mtoe of oil)

Huge variations in the use of solar thermal

Example: Austria vs. Europe

annually installedcollector areain m2

SwedenBelgiumDenmark

Great Britain

Source: ESTIF 2005

Netherlands

France

Austriancounty

2004m²

2004

m2European

country

Upper Austria 43.700 52.000 FR

Karinthia 25.300 26.300 NL

Lower Austria 24.000 26.000 UK

Styria 21.000 20.000 SE

Tyrol 19.600 20.000 DK

Vienna 6.800 5.500 SK

Strong effects of support policies

• Climatic conditions are clearly not the reason for the huge variations between countries

• Support policies have played a major role in the growth of solar thermal

• Public support comes in the form of:• Financial incentives• Regulation• R&D programmes• Awareness campaigns• Demonstration: Solar thermal on public buildings

Self-perpetuating success

• People find it natural to use solar thermal

• Architects foresee solar thermal as a standard feature in buildings

• Every installer offers solar thermal systems

• Costs go further down

• Further public support is not necessary

Experience shows that once solar thermal has reached a critical mass in one country:

Renewable Heating Directive

Since 2003, ESTIF has called for a EU Directive to promote Renewable Heating and Cooling

The time is ripe: A broad coaltion supports the Directive already

We believe: The Directive will be the decisive political measure towards a sustainable heating and cooling sector

Thanks to Mechtild Rothe‘s initiative, the issue is currently discussed in the European Parliament