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Olivier Drücke elected new president of the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation |
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Friday, 12 December 2008 |
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 The European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) members elected a new
Board of Directors on 2 December at their General Assembly in Athens where they discussed the sector
development. Reports from the
development of national markets in 2008 show an increase in new installations
of 45-50% to around 2,8 GWth of new capacity. For the first time the total
collector area newly installed in Europe could reach the 4 million square
meters mark in one year. A new president was also elected: Mr Olivier Drücke, Head
of Sales and Marketing of KBB Kollektorbau GmbH, a Berlin-based collector
manufacturer. His vast industry experience and extensive international contact
network will be very useful in his new role as ESTIF president.
A key
priority of the new Board of Directors will be to support the member
associations in the national implementation of the forthcoming Renewable Energy
Directive. This piece of legislation is expected to have a strong positive
impact on the solar thermal market in the coming years. National governments
will have to be made aware that solar thermal can make a large contribution to
meeting their national renewable energy target, if the right policy measures
are put in place. “We will especially try to strengthen solar thermal actors,
where national associations do not yet exist,” says ESTIF President Drücke. To achieve this aim, ESTIF is organizing the
4th European Solar Thermal Energy Conference (estec2009). According to the
organization’s press release, the call for abstracts is now open and all
abstracts must be submitted online by January 5th, 2009. |
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