Solar Heat Europe is celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year, marking an important milestone for the whole solar thermal sector which has been a pioneer in contributing to a decarbonised society. We celebrate these 30 years while joining efforts for an increased impact at European level for the coming three decades.

One of the goals of our 30^th anniversary campaign is to steer the conversation about heat decarbonisation and its crucial role for Europe’s energy security and climate goals. Additionally, we aim to strengthen solar heat’s position in the energy debate, as the technology is already available, competitive, and ready to be scaled up for a faster decarbonisation of heating in European buildings and industries. To pursue these goals, we organised a High-Level event which brought together the solar thermal sector, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

The event ‘Heat decarbonisation: a strategic imperative for the EU’ took place on June 20^th in Brussels and addressed the intersection between the recently launched REPowerEU plan, the EU Solar Energy Strategy, the ongoing discussions on the Renewable Energy Directive, and the need for a greater attention and a swift implementation across the EU when it comes to heat decarbonisation.

“If you want to meet a higher renewable energy target, you will need to deploy renewables in heating and cooling. And it is very, very clear that this is a sector that has not yet realised its potential,” said Lukasz Kolinski, head of unit at the Commission’s energy department, during the first panel discussion.

The second part of the event included the launch of a Solar Thermal Roadmap for 2030, followed by another panel discussion which addressed topics such as challenges and opportunities of solar thermal deployment in buildings, industries, and district heating. Circularity and raw materials used in the production of renewable technologies such as solar heat was also tackled during the second panel.

‘’What Europe is facing now is not a gas crisis, it is a heat crisis. Heat is half of the energy consumed in Europe and solar heat has a critical role to play in the response to this crisis and to the energy transition, as a clean, competitive, and reliable source of heat for European homes and industry” stated Pedro Dias, Secretary General of Solar Heat Europe, during his presentation of the roadmap.

‘Energising Europe with Solar Heat’ – a Solar Thermal Roadmap for Europe is available online and open for signatories. More than 100 public and private entities from the solar thermal sector or from its stakeholders’ groups have shown support for the roadmap by becoming signatories. The strategic document is meant to support advocacy activities at European and national levels by providing relevant information and data about solar thermal’s current impact and potential by 2030.

Learn more about the event and the themes tackled through the anniversary campaign from EURACTIV’s special report: Solar thermal: En route to 2030

The 30^th anniversary campaign continues with the dissemination of the solar thermal roadmap, with more content on SHE’s social media channels, and the launch of a Solar Heat Publication meant to highlight the sector’s past achievements and ambition for the future.