Task 54 Highlights 2018
February 2019 - PDF 0.22MB

One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is to secure a sustainable energy supply and to considerably reduce CO2 emissions and the serious consequence of climate change. The challenging goals with regard to the contributions of renewable energy cannot be reached without considerable growth of solar thermal markets worldwide. Therefore, costcompetitive, efficient and reliable solar thermal systems are required. Cost-competitiveness is particularly hard to achieve as the price of solar thermal systems is still not equaled by the price end-users have to pay for conventional heat supply. A great number of complex, costly and oftentimes non-transparent steps are needed to bring solar thermal from the factory to the actual users. SHC Task 54 is looking for ways to optimize each of these steps as well as looking into the social-political context in which solar thermal installations are embedded. The ultimate goal is to strengthen the solar thermal industry by finding solutions for more cost-efficient production and installation of solar thermal systems and for marketing them at an even more competitive price.
 

Task 54 Highlights 2017
February 2018 - PDF 0.42MB
One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is to secure a sustainable energy supply and to considerably reduce CO2 emissions and the serious consequence of climate change. The challenging goals with regard to the contributions of renewable energy cannot be reached without considerable growth of solar thermal markets worldwide. Therefore, cost-competitive, efficient and reliable solar thermal systems are required. Cost-competitiveness is particularly hard to achieve as the price of solar thermal systems is still not equaled by the price end-users have to pay for conventional heat supply.

Task 54 Highlights 2016
April 2017 - PDF 0.73MB

SHC Task 54 aims to reduce the purchase price for end-users of installed solar thermal systems by evaluating and developing sustainable means to reduce the production and/or installation costs of materials, sub-components and system components. Special emphasis is being placed on the identification and reduction of post-production cost drivers (e.g., channels of distribution). An extensive market research, the definition of reference systems, cost analyses and the study of socio-political boundary conditions for solar thermal prices in selected regions will provide the basis for the evaluation of cost structures and cost reduction potential. Additionally, ways to make solar thermal more attractive by improving marketing and consumer-oriented designs are being explored.

Task 54 Highlights 2015
April 2016 - PDF 0.72MB
One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is to secure a sustainable energy supply and to considerably reduce CO2 emissions and the potential serious consequences of climate change. The challenging goals with regard to the contributions of renewable energy cannot be obtained without considerable growth of the solar thermal markets worldwide. Therefore, cost-competitive, efficient and reliable solar thermal systems are required. The first of these attributes is particularly hard to achieve as the prices for the production of solar thermal systems are still far from being equalled by the prices end-users have to pay. A great number of complex, costly and oftentimes non-transparent work steps are needed in order to bring solar thermal from the factory to the actual users. Task 54 is looking for ways to optimize each of these steps and is also looking into the social political contexts in which solar thermal installations are embedded. The ultimate goal is to strengthen the solar thermal industry by finding solutions for the cost-efficient production and installation of solar thermal systems and their marketing at a competitive price.