Proceedings of the International Conference, held in Venice, Italy, 3-5 March 1983

Proceedings of the Final Design Review Meeting on EC Photovoltaic Pilot Projects, held in Brussels, 3 November-2 December 1981

Proceedings of the EC Contractors' Meeting held in Brussels, 5-7 May 1982

Proceedings of the EEC/DOE Workshop hosted by the Commissariat a L'Energie Solaire, held in Sophia-Antipolis, France, 23-24 October 1980

Proceedings of the EC Contractors' Meeting held in Athens, Greece, 11-13 November 1981

Proceedings of the EC Contractors' Meeting held in Cadarache, 26-28 October 1981

This l::: ook comes as part of a new series on Solar Energy R+D, includlng Biomass which is carried out by the Euro: pean Community.. The commission of the European Comrmmities' Directorate General (XII) for Science, Research and Developnent is currently implementing, on a cost-sharing basis, a solar energy R+D pro;Jranune through contracts with European industry, research institutions and uni versi ties. This prcgrarrrrne includes a very strong acti vi ty on Biomass. Besides general R+D work on all aspects of Biomass growth and utilization which is reported elsewhere in this series, the Canmission is currently starting a new activity on Pilot Plants based on the use of Biomass for energy purp: Jses, and in particular on methanol prcx: luction from wood. The commission considers that the subject of methanol prcxiuction from wood offers llnp: Jrtant prospects for application wi thin the European Canmilllity and in other parts of the world, in particular some of the developing countries & The state of art in Europe In this field is still considered to be very high as a result of related work which was performed in Europe during vorld War II and the time before.

This book is the first volume of a new ser ies on solar energy researeh and developnent whieh is earried out in the European Communi ty. The Commission of the European Cammunity's Directorate General (XII) for Researeh, Scienee and Edueation is eurrently implementing, on a eost-sharing hasis, a solar energy R+D programme through eontraets wi th European industry, researeh institutions and universities. This programme eovers the following sectors : Project A Solar Energy Applieations to Dwellings project B Thermo-mech. Solar Power Plants project C Photovoltaie Power Generation project D Photochemieal, Photoelectrochemical and Photobiological Processes project E Energy fram Biamass project F Solar Radiation Data project G Wind Energy project H Solar Energy in Agricul ture and Industry In the course of the programme the Commission organises each year several coordination meetings to which the contractors within each sector are invited to present details of their work. As the information presented at these meetings is recent and of high interest for other researchers working in these particular sectors, the Commission has decided to start this new ser ies of publieations in cooperation with D. Reidel Publishing Campany in order that this new infor- mation ean be quickly and widely circulated for the benefit of advancement and progress in the whole field of solar energy.

In this book, the Commission of the European Communities presents the proceedings of the Workshop on Solar Central Receiver Projects, held in Varese, I taly, in June 1984. This Workshop was supported by all operators of solar tower power plants around the world and, as a result, these proceedings provide a comprehensive overview of the technology in its current state of development. The Workshop was organized by the Commission of the European Communities in the frame of the second solar energy R&D programme under the responsibility of its Di rectorate-General (X 11) for Science, Research and Development in Brussels. The meeting place, Varese, in Italy, was selected because of its neighbourhood to the Ispra Establishment of the Commission's Joint Research Centre who cooperated in the organization of the Workshop. Solar power plants of the central receiving type have two conflicting characteristics: they employ very simple and classical components but as a system they are of tremendous complexity. It was the hope for rapid progress by using available components that guided the decisions taken in the late seventies to build six large experimental plants: four in Europe, one in Japan and one in the United States. At that time, this technology enjoyed high priority in solar energy R&D around the world. Once the plants were completed, however, it became clear that the technical complexity combined with difficult meteorological conditions at most construction sites made the yields less favourable than anticipated.

Proceedings of the EC Contractors' Meeting held in Brussels, December 6-8, 1982

Proceedings of the International Conference, held in London, U.K., 15-19 April 1985

Proceedings of the Contractors' Meeting held in Brussels, 23-24 November 1982

Proceedings of the Workshop and EC Contractors' Meeting held in Capri, June 7-8, 1983

After the first successful conference in Munich in 1987, the Commission of the European Communities has been organising its 2nd Conference on Architecture in Paris. It is part of the Community's development programme on solar energy. The use of solar energy in dwellings and buildings in general was actually the starting point of this conference and it still is a major part of it. But the development of solar energy has not only led to a better energy utilisation and a new type of comfort in our buildings; it just showed an example of the immense technological potential which still remains unexploited in modern architecture. The approach needed is multi-disciplinary: these conferences are meant as the forum where architects, scientists, engineers and industrialists get together. I express my hope that they can lead the way to an architecture stimulated by technology and a new start for technology developments at the service of that architecture. Wolfgang Palz Commission of the European Communities Brussels Suite a la premiere conference reussie de Munich en 1987, la Commission des Communautes Europeennes a organise sa 2e Conference de l'Architecture a Paris. Elle fait partie du programme communautaire de developpement de l'energie solaire.

In the Last few years, much progress has been made in Learning how to use soLar energy. In photovoLtaics the prospects Look brighter every year and as a resuLt of this, photovoLtaic conferences are attracting increasing interest from the pubLic. The 1980 PhotovoLtaic SoLar Energy Conference in Cannes was the third organized by the Commission of the European Communities since 1977. With more than 700 participants from aLL over the worLd, it was the biggest heLd to date in Europe on photovoLtaics. These proceedings reproduce the SS invited and more than 120 submitted papers which have been presented during the conference. In generaL, these papers were of very high quaLity; they provide a comprehensive overview of the curren~ status and future prospects of photovoLtaics. I take this opportunity to thank the Commissariat a L'Energie SoLaire in Paris and the Institute of ELectricaL and ELectronic Engineers in New York for their cooperation in organizing this very successfuL conference. WoLfgang PaLz Conference Chairman -ili- Exhibition on the roof of the Palais des Festivals Exhibition, Commission's booth -~- CONFERENCE COMMITTEE G.neral Chairman Dr. C. J. Bishop Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden Dr. W. Palz Colorado, U.S.A.

This book gives a comprehensive overview of activities currently under way to produce, collect and compile radiation data as needed for the various types of solar energy applications in Europe. Contributions have been made by all contractors of the Commission of the European Communities, in par ticular the Meteorological Offices of the EC member countries. They all re ported on their work at a meeting which was held in October 1982 in Brussels and of which these are the proceedings. The Commission' work in this area follows a detailed strategy which was published earlier as part of the proceedings of Volume I, Series F. Series F is especially devoted to publications on the European Communities' work on solar radiation data. Other volumes within Series F are in preparation and will deal with: - solar radiation data on tilted planes; - solar radiation data derived from meteorological satellite obs- tions. In addition, two new atlases are being prepared, one showing - for the area of the European Community - maps for solar radiation on titled planes of various inclinations and orientations, and the other showing - for the whole of Europe and the Eastern part of the Mediterranean - radiation data for horizontal planes. In the latter there will also be a statistical analy sis section. Both atlases will be published in the course of 1983."

The objectives of the Modelling Sub-Group are to unify European research in the field of computer models, to provide the best simplified models in the Passive Solar Working Group's extensive European Passive Solar Handbook and to ensure that these simple models are easy to use for design purposes. It has defined the needs of the research program for a large model and has chosen the Scottish program ESP as a large simulation model to be used as a reference for the analysis of the simplified ones. Each participant has commissioned the chosen model on his own computer and run a very simple exercise, just to verify that the program works similarily on the different machines. The analysis of the large model is being brought on its different sections, such as : input, output, heat transfer, passive solar systems, etc. The group will run ESP using the same passive solar bulding data as inputted to simplified models to assess the sensitivity of the latter ones. It will report on the work needed for the next 4 year CEC research program.

This book is the first volume of a new ser ies on solar energy researeh and developnent whieh is earried out in the European Communi ty. The Commission of the European Cammunity's Directorate General (XII) for Researeh, Scienee and Edueation is eurrently implementing, on a eost-sharing hasis, a solar energy R+D programme through eontraets wi th European industry, researeh institutions and universities. This programme eovers the following sectors : Project A Solar Energy Applieations to Dwellings project B Thermo-mech. Solar Power Plants project C Photovoltaie Power Generation project D Photochemieal, Photoelectrochemical and Photobiological Processes project E Energy fram Biamass project F Solar Radiation Data project G Wind Energy project H Solar Energy in Agricul ture and Industry In the course of the programme the Commission organises each year several coordination meetings to which the contractors within each sector are invited to present details of their work. As the information presented at these meetings is recent and of high interest for other researchers working in these particular sectors, the Commission has decided to start this new ser ies of publieations in cooperation with D. Reidel Publishing Campany in order that this new infor- mation ean be quickly and widely circulated for the benefit of advancement and progress in the whole field of solar energy.

Since 1977 the U.S. National Photovoltaic Program has actively supported the design, construction and operation of a variety of photovoltaic power system applications classed as Intermediate size systems and ranging in size from 15 kW to 1000 kW. To date fourteen systems have been built and generally are operating as planned. One lOOkW application project was terminated before the completion of the project due to exhaustion of funds and too ambitious of a project. The fourteen operating systems represented a total installed peak generating capacity of 1,164 kW and have delivered nearly 2,000 MWH of energy. Under the U.S. National Program two additional intermediate size photovoltaic power plants are under construction and are expected to become operational during 1984. These two plants represent a total of 1,300 kW of peak generating capacity and should deliver over 1800 MWH of energy per year. In addition the U.S. Photovoltaic Program has committed most of the funding to support the design, procurement and construction of a 1000 kW photovoltaic plant. This .plant will be constructed and installed during the 1984-1985 period. Current U. S. Program Plans do not anticipate funding any further Intermediate size photovoltaic power plants. In parallel with the government program, the private sector has begun building and installing Intermediate (and larger) size photovoltaic power systems. Over the past 21 months, the private sector has installed four Intermediate size PV systems in the U.S.

The EC programme on Photovoltaic Power Generation has two distinct parts pilot Projects and R&D contracts on cells, processes, materials, IOOdules and systems. The pilot projects are managed in a totally different w~ fran the R&D contracts. Enphasis ,is put on all aspects of the system such as pcwer conditioning, environmental factors, structures, etc. The aim is to examine all different system aspects, to inprove the performance and the reliability of the overall photovoltaic system and to reduce its cost. A canprehensive overview of the PV pilot programme of the European Gammunities was given in volume 1 of this Series C. R&D contracts, on the other hand, are intended to advance our kn0w- The ledge on all canponents in order to reduce the cost, mainly of the photovoltaic IOOdules. This book reports on the results presented at the sixth contractors' meeting, held about six IlDnths before the end of the current R&D programme.