The EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) took place between 25 – 29 October 2021 under the theme ‘Towards 2030: Reshaping the European Energy System’ and Solar Heat Europe was part of the official programme of the conference with a Policy Session and an Energy Talk.

The policy session ‘Striving for decarbonisation in the Energy Community with renewable district heating’ organised in collaboration with the Energy Community took place on October 26^th and it brought different perspectives on the topic.

The session was moderated by Pedro Dias and the panel was formed by Violeta Kogalniceanu, Head of Infrastructure and Energy Efficiency Unit at Energy Community, bringing an overview on the heating sector in the Energy Community countries, Iuliia Perchuk, Director at the Reform Support Team at Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, bringing the perspective of public authorities and sharing district heating opportunities and challenges from Ukraine, Greg Gebrail, Principal Specialist for District Energy at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, highlighting regulatory barriers and financing opportunities, and finally, Christian Holter, Founding Manager of SOLID, presenting examples of solar district heating plants from around the world which provide clean and affordable renewable heat to citizens today.

The session brought forward the importance to acknowledge heat is half of the energy consumed and highlighted that its transition is possible today by replicating massively the existing renewable district heating examples. The speakers emphasized also that decarbonisation would stabilize prices and collaboration is key in the process.

Later in the week, on October 28^th, Solar Heat Europe held an Energy Talk addressing PVT, as an innovative technology producing both renewable heat and electricity. The session was facilitated by Laetitia Brottier, Chair of Solar Heat Europe’s PVT Task Force and Co-founder of DualSun. The session aimed to bring awareness to the PVT technology, presenting developments and applicability today, as well as a case study. The case study represented a project that is at the forefront of the energy transition and includes the integration of PVT coupled to heat pumps in La Marseillaise Building, France. Sustainable development was at the core of the rehabilitation process since the beginning and the building does not use any fossil fuels now. The PVT collectors reduce the building’s electricity consumption by 15% and the energy consumption to produce domestic hot water by more than 50%.