SolNet 2011-2014

PhD Position

Topic: Flexible Hydraulic and Control Concepts and Stagnation Prevention in Large Collector Fields

Date of publication: 10 July 2013

PhD students from all over the world, working in the solar thermal field, are invited to participate in the SolNet courses.  The course lectures are free of charge (=> no course fee!). The course series 2011-2014 is sponsored by the two German industry federations BdH (www.bdh-koeln.de) and BSW (www.solarwirtschaft.de)

1. New Applications for Solar Thermal Systems (industrial process heat, solar cooling, etc.) – August 23-27, 2011, directly before the ISES Solar World Congress in Kassel, DE.

Read more

2. Solar thermal systems: Integration in conventional and new heating systems, planning of large solar heating systems, system simulation, summer/autumn 2012 in Innsbruck, AT.

Read more

3. Stores for solar thermal systems: Temperature stratification in water stores, phase change materials, thermo-chemical stores – spring 2014 in Copenhagen, DK.

The SolNet network is coordinated by the Institute of Thermal Engineering at Kassel University, Germany (www.solar.uni-kassel.de).

10 EU PhD scholarships announced for solar heating and cooling
The largest ever coordinated EU education action for PhD students in the field of solar thermal energy use has been awarded to a consortium of nine university groups, within the EU-Marie Curie programme for early stage research training. “This is an exciting opportunity to educate 10 young researchers together, with common courses and a coordinated research plan.”, says Ulrike Jordan of Kassel University in Germany, coordinator for the project. “Although solar thermal is already an established industry with an annual turnover exceeding 100 M€ in Europe alone, there are a number of key research issues that can be addressed by this project. Research is required to help maintain the annual growth of 20% in the industry by further developing existing applications and by pioneering the way to new applications such as solar cooling.”
Solnet, as the project is called, consists of a consortium of leading groups in the field of solar heating and cooling at nine universities in Spain, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. The PhD scholarships are restricted mainly to European residents that have graduated at master’s level during the last four years, and require that the students complete the PhD’s at a university in a country other than their home country. The students will also attend two common PhD courses per year, held by the participating universities. “This means that these young researchers will have a wonderful chance to travel and study with the leading researchers in this field in Europe, something I have been lucky enough to do myself.” concludes Ulrike. For more information see www.solar.uni-kassel.de/solnet.