Posted: January 9, 2025
Source: Fraunhofer ISE / Task 73
Dr. Korbinian Kramer from the German institute Fraunhofer ISE has successfully presented the leadership team and outline for the new research platform on PVT Heating Systems to the Executive Committee of the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme. The Committee then confirmed the start of IEA SHC Task 73 titled PVT Heating Systems during its meeting in Berlin in November. In order to combine communication with research activities, Kramer has involved representatives from research, industry and associations in the management of the working groups (see chart above). The kickoff meeting is planned for Thursday 13 February 2025 in Berlin following an industry workshop on PVT Competitiveness on 12 February.
“We have assembled a marvellous leadership team for Task 73 to promote the uptake of PVT heating systems”, said Kramer, who was confirmed as Task Manager by the Executive Committee. When asked about the main goal for the new PVT Task, Kramer said he wants to “provide insights and facts about PVT in a way that impacts and diffuses into the markets”. “We would like to mirror market needs in the offers companies prepare and make”, he added. Kramer stated that new technologies like PVT often face hurdles, because energy market regulators or subsidy scheme administrators lack knowledge when writing regulations or policies. The task will run until December 2028.
Figure 2 shows the outline of the task separated into four groups: Liquid Heating PVT, Air Heating PVT, Awareness and Policy, and Modelling and Monitoring. Each group is led by at least two people, one from research and the other from industry. The topics listed in figure 2 are deliberately not assigned to the individual groups. According to Kramer, there should be inter-group cooperation while working on the various topics. However, a responsible person will be appointed for each deliverable.
Figure 2: Outline of IEA SHC Task 73 on PVT Heating systems. Four subgroups work jointly on a number of market and research-orientated topics.
Source: Fraunhofer ISE / Task 73
Industry workshop on PVT Competitiveness
The task team is planning a first industry workshop on PVT Competitiveness to take place in Berlin on Wednesday 12 February 2025, the day before the kickoff meeting. “We will start with an opening session with high-profiled impulses on the competitive advantage of PVT systems. After that we will share our experiences with the market and positioning in moderated breakout sessions”, said Kramer, describing the concept of the industry workshop. Registration will be available for this here in the coming weeks: https://task73.iea-shc.org/event?EventID=9186
When asked about their motivation and their main goals in working within the new PVT task, several members of the leadership team mentioned "raising awareness". Valérie Séjourné from Solar Heat Europe (SHE) aims to work on “awareness and greater uptake of PVT thanks to good policy measures and good communication materials”. Séjourné sees encouraging trends in the PVT industry in Europe with several of SHE’s members opening new production lines and raising capital for extending business.
Main goals in working on the new PVT task
Frank Bruce from Naked Energy in the UK wants to make sure that “key audiences in the commercial & industrial space understand the benefits that PVT technologies provide for their operations”. Bruce sees skill gaps on design and installation of PVT systems as most installers “specialize either in PV or solar thermal. It is, therefore, challenging to find companies with expertise in both, he added.
Maria Herrando aims at preparing brief documents that facilitate the wider dissemination and use of PVT technologies. She is Project Coordinator at the Spanish Institute ITA - Instituto Tecnológico de Aragón and heads the Task 73 working group on Modelling and Monitoring. Herrando sees research demand in integrating PVT collectors with other heating technologies e.g. heat pumps or biomass/biogas boilers to provide a plug-and-play package to industrial customers.
With whom would you like to sit down at a table and discuss PVT most? – was another question that the leadership team members were faced with. Herrando wants to reach out to industrial plant managers and industrial network representatives. Bruce targets national regulators in charge of devising subsidy schemes. Valérie thinks it is best to sit down with “colleagues from the renewable energy sector such as the heat pump manufacturers or storage companies to work together more on the synergies and complementarities of solutions towards clean heat and energy supply”.
Websites of organizations mentioned in this news article: