Solar Thermal Technology - Present Usage, Future Possibilities, and Best Practices

October 19, 2009,
4:00pm - 5:30pm

Speaker: Christian Holter, S.O.L.I.D. Abstract: Solar thermal technology is already widely spread with a total nominal power of 147 GW installed by end of 2007. Most of today's capacity is used for preparing hot water, but the potential for integration in industrial process heat, space and district heating and solar cooling is a manifold and today just slightly touched by a few pilot projects. The presentation will start summarizing today's distribution and usage of solar thermal technology compared to other renewables worldwide. After discussing the possible contribution to the worldwide energy supply, I will highlight best practice examples, including a 10,000 ft2 plant proposed for MIT's NW 35. If meteorological situation allows, we can see the operation of plants with a live feed.

About the Speaker: Dr. Christian Holter is Managing Director of S.O.L.I.D. GmbH of Graz, Austria and operating in Phoenix AZ as SolidUSA, Inc. SOLID specializes in large scale solar thermal plants with installations in 20 countries. Applications cover a wide range from domestic hot water to space heating, district heating, industrial process heat and solar cooling.