Page 82 - ISES SWC50

• SOLE S.A. produces the well-known solar water heater “Heliothermo”.
• George Löf oversaw the construction of a research house at Colorado State University that was the world’s
first to also be cooled by solar energy.

1975
• Solar Thermal energy course for final year and Postgraduate students at UNSW commenced. At about the
same time final year student at the University of Melbourne were also studying solar thermal energy.

1976
• First commercial demonstration in Australia of a 77 m array (subsequently increased to 94 m ), with a 20
2
2
cubic metre thermal store was installed at Queanbeyan at a Coca Cola bottling plant.
1977
• Start of the International Energy Agency Solar Heating and Cooling Technology Collaboration Program.
This International Collaborative Research program has completed more than 60 long term research task s
involving more than 20 countries worldwide. www.iea-shc.org
• Development and Demonstration Program’ for solar heating established in Denmark, leading to a large number
of projects for the development of active and passive solar heating , including solar walls, as well as low-energy
construction and storage technology, which paved the way for more commercial use of solar energy in the country.
Source: https://www.klimadebat.dk/handelsministeriets-program-1977-80-r336.php
• Calpak BP (Greece), produce their Neo model, a thermosiphon system with a horizontal closed circuit tank.

1978
• The UK Solar Trade Association is founded, to represent the UK solar industry.
• The first central solar water heating system in a large hotel in Europe. This is “Marathon beach hotel” in Nea
Makri-Attica-Greece.

1979
• The Greek Solar Thermal Industry Association EBHE is established.
• Founding of the Association of Danish Manufacturers of Solar Heating Systems (Dansk Solvarme).
• US President Jimmy Carter installs solar water heating on the Whitehouse.
• The Sunstrip absorber was first used in large collectors developed and used in an experimental building
project with 2 900 m2 roof-integrated collectors in Linköping 1979 Developed by Gränges, an old Swedish
metal industry company, and later by Sunstrip AB, the Sunstrip absorber consisted of two aluminium
sheets (about 150 mm wide) pressed together (in a rolling mill) with a copper pipe in between (diameter
about 10 mm), and placed on a roll.
• Development of a selective surface for evacuated tube collectors by magnetron sputtering at University of
Sydney Australia.
• Israel Requires all Buildings less than 10 storeys tall to include solar water heater. By 2005 an estimated
3% of Energy in Israel comes from solar water heaters.

7.5 CSP 1970-1979

1977
• The International Energy Agency (IEA) launched the Small Solar Power System projects – two 500 kW
CSP projects – in Almeria, Spain, under an Implementing Agreement signed by 9 countries and lead by the
US, Germany and Spain.
• The 1 MW CESA 1 project was initiated at the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA) in Spain, the site of the
two IEA projects.
• CSP development in the US began with the opening of the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the
creation of renewable energy incentives.

Late 1970s
• In the US, building on the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) and the National Energy Act,
which established policy and provided incentives for renewable energy development, States started
offering incentives for renewable energy.

64 | ISES SWC50 - The Century of Solar-Stories and Visions