The International Energy Agency Solar Heating and Cooling Technology Collaboration Programme (IEA SHC TCP) is one of over 40 multilateral Technology Collaboration Programmes (also known as TCPs) of the
International Energy Agency
The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous Intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation, established in 1974, that provides policy recommendations, analysis and data on the entire global energy sector, wit ...
. It was one of the first of such programmes, founded in 1977. Its current mission is to "''advance international collaborative efforts for solar energy to reach the goal set in the vision of contributing 50% of the low temperature heating and cooling demand by 2030.''". Its international solar collector statistics ''Solar Heat Worldwide''
serves as a reference document for governments, financial institutions, consulting firms and non-profit/non-governmental organizations.
Membership and organization
The IEA SHC's members are national governments, the European Commission and international organizations. Each of the members is represented by one representative in the management body called the Executive Committee. The IEA SHC Executive Committee meets twice per year and is headed by an elected chairman. The IEA SHC currently has 28 members (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, European Commission, CCREEE, EACREEE, ECREEE, European Copper Institute, ISES, RCREEE, SACREEE, SICREEE ).
Fields of work
Research, development and demonstration
The IEA SHC aims at facilitating international collaboration in the research, development and demonstration of
solar thermal energy
Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors.
Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United ...
and solar buildings. Their multi-year projects (also known as "Tasks") are conducted by researchers from different countries. Funding is provided by IEA SHC members, who usually pay one or more national research institutions to participate in the work.
Research topics include:
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solar water heating and
solar air heating, e.g. Solar Hot Water for 2030 (Task 69), Solar and Heat Pump Systems (Task 44), Solar Combisystems (Task 26)
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solar industrial process heat, e.g. Solar Process Heat (Task 64), Solar Energy in Industrial Water and Wastewater (Task 62), Solar Process Heat for Production and Advanced Applications (Task 49), Solar Heat for Industrial Process (Task 33)
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solar district heating, e.g. Efficient Solar District Heating Systems (Task 68), Towards the Integration of Large Systems into District Heating and Cooling Network (Task 55), Large Systems: Large Solar Heating/Cooling Systems, Seasonal Storage, Heat Pumps (Task 45)
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