Technology

Valencia’s Director General of Energy, Antonio Cejalvo, recently visited the solar plant installed by the company RNB Cosméticos at its base in Pobla de Vallbona. It is the first plant in Spain to provide solar cooling through an industrial process.

They are like sunflowers. Throughout the day they follow the sun and allow light to be focused when, how and where needed to illuminate or provide heat in a home or office. The clever device has been invented by the company Solar MEMS Technologies.

This is one of the conclusions of the report "Evaluation of the potential of solar thermal energy in the industrial sector" of the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) prepared by the consultancy firms, energyXperts and Eclareon.

The Construction Unit of the Basque technology centre, Tecnalia, is participating in the Pavener Project, an initiative which aims to harness the solar energy that hits the asphalt on our roads and use it as thermal energy to heat and air condition buildings.

The Spanish Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) announced at the end of December that it had signed an agreement with the General Council of Real Estate Administrators of Spain (Consejo General de Colegios de Administradores de Fincas de España) through which both organisations will collaborate to disseminate the credit lines promoted by the IDAE to boost the use of renewable heat energy in buildings

More than a year after the launch of "Biomcasa", which is still in progress, the Spanish Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) has announced two new programmes, "Solcasa" and "Geocasa", to provide financial assistance to energy service companies installing renewable energies for heating buildings and housing.

The Navarre Solar Cluster Association is the name under which 12 companies from the solar sector in Navarre have joined forces to improve their competitiveness, boost business and enhance collaboration with institutions and the public administration. Photovoltaic solar, solar thermal and solar thermal electric companies are involved in this initiative.

The Catalan company Petra Inventum has developed a solar roofing solution called Solar Item: a single product that simultaneously fulfils the role of a roof and of a solar thermal collector. This dual-functionality differentiates it from traditional solar thermal systems.

Organized by Spain’s Ministry of Housing in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Madrid and the support of the US federal government’s Department of Energy, the Solar Decathlon 2010 competition, held so far only in America, will for the first time have a European edition. The event will take place in Madrid in June.