05/05/2010
SolarExpo 2010

Solarexpo - international exhibition and conference on renewable energy and distributed generation to be held at the Veronafiere exhibition center from May 7 to 9 this year - pays special attention to the solar thermal sector in order to respond to the market's demand for training. By 2020, over 450 thousand people will be committed to solar thermal in Europe.

The market's growth curve, which increased by 150% from 2002 to 2006, should lead to the employment of 100,000 workers in 2012, 150,000 in 2014, 225,000 in 2016 and more than 300,000 in 2018 according to forecasts. This data comes from research conducted by ESTIF (European Solar Thermal Industry Federation). In Italy, ASSOLTERM estimates ten thousand jobs for 2008, with a turnover of € 400 million.

Four important events dedicated to solar thermal energy, made possible with the assistance of the Scientific Secretariat of Ambiente Italia, will be held at Solarexpo. The meeting devoted to "Solar Thermal for Process Heat in Industry", which will be held Thursday, May 7, will discuss industrial applications of solar thermal energy, with focus on the food market which is positioned to be one of most interesting and promising areas of application. Friday, May 8 will be dedicated to the international conference "Solar Thermal Applied to Building Regulations" that, with a very practical approach, after providing an expert update on the markets and incentive mechanisms, will present two initiatives aimed at taking stock of so-called "solar building regulations" and case studies in Lazio and Lombardy. Also on Friday the international conference "Solar Cooling: from Pilot Applications to Market" will be held to analyze the state of the art in solar cooling, define the path towards the market consolidation, illustrate the tools available to designers, and examine a few operating systems and commercially available products in detail.