• December 2002: ASTIG and ESIF merge into one solar thermal industry federation: ESTIF. Soltherm plans to cooperate closely with ESTIF.
  
  
• December 2002: A presentation on the goals and activities of Soltherm Europe was held by Giel Linthorst (Ecofys) to the Scottish Solar Energy Group (SSEG).
  
  
• December 2002: The number of solar thermal collectors installed in Europe has increased three-fold in the past decade, according to figures released by the European Renewable Energy Council. The total capacity installed in Europe by 2000 was 10.9 million m2, compared with 3.5 million m2 in 1990, says EREC president Arthouros Zervos. Germany is the leading country with 3.3 million m2, Greece at 2.7 million m2, Austria at 2.2 million m2 and France at 700,000 m2. All other EU members are below half a million square metres. (Source: Refocus Weekly)
  

• November 2002: A manual for potential organisers of solar campaigns can now be downloaded. This manual by Alois Köchli and Marcel Schnarwiler of Switzerland combines state of the art know-how of previous solar campaigns. It is not only useful for campaign organisers, but for all interested project groups, especially for energy service providers, building partnerships, property owners, and communities, who would like to profile themselves as sustainable and ecologically progressive organisations. Downloadable in English and German.
  
  
• October 2002: In Austria, a National Soltherm Workshop was organised by the AEE and GEA to establish plans for Soltherm Austria. In the workshop, specific plans for new campaings were presented.
  

• October 2002: An invited plenary presentation on Soltherm Europe was held in the international conference Gleisdorf Solar 2002.
  
  
• October 2002: The first newsletter giving general information on Soltherm Europe can be found here.
  
  
• September 2002: The first Renewable Partnership's newsletter within the context of the campaign for Take-Off has seen the light. In this newsletter you can find out more about the approach and vision of the Soltherm initiative. Furthermore you will be updated on other ambitious objectives of the CTO: wind, solar, biomass and the 100% communities.
  
  
• September 2002: Energias Renovables (Spain) mentions 51 000 m2 solar thermal growth in 2001.
  
  
• August 2002: A short article in Italian on Soltherm, published on the July/August 2002 issue of "Il Sole a 360 gradi", the monthly newsletter of ISES-Italia.
  
  
• August 2002: Soltherm has been given a special position in the new CTO Catalogue 2001. Here you can download the text of the Soltherm description. Several new partners have joined the Renewable Energy Partnership in the framework of Soltherm.
  

• June 23-26, 2002: The second project meeting has taken place in Bologna, Italy, together with the Eurosun 2002 Conference. At the conference, Kees van der Leun, director of Ecofys, has given a plenary presentation on Soltherm Europe
  
  
• June, 2002: A presentation on Soltherm Europe and on the Ecofys solar thermal energy marketing activities was given at the Irish Solar Energy Conference in Tralee, Ireland.
  
  
• April 2002: The contract has been signed to have a Soltherm Solar water heater campaign in the city of Bonn in Germany. The program is expected to install 1000 m2 of collector area or 120 SWH systems in two months. Here is more detail on the Bonn campaign.
  
  
• February 28 to March 1. 2002 spanned the kick-off meeting for the Soltherm Europe EU Altener project. The event was attended by 23 representatives from 9 EU countries, comprising individuals from various agencies, consultancies, industry leaders and governmental and municipal groups. Since the kick-off meeting, the complete project team is working hard to develop the Soltherm network and its product.

• July 2001: The Bonn Event
  July 23, 2001 marked the so called signing session of the Renewable Energy partnerships of the Soltherm Europe Initiative partners with the European Commission.
  The following information on this side-event to the successful Climate Conference in Bonn is available:
  
  1. An independent report of the signing session (article below).
  2. Our own coverage.
  3. Our press release.
  
  
  The following press releases have been issued by the organisation of the Soltherm Europe Initiative:
  
  
  19 Juni 2001, Deutsch: Soltherm Europe Initiative gestartet: 15 million m² Sonnenkollektoren
  
  19 Juni 2001, Nederlands: Soltherm Europe Initiative gelanceerd om Europese Markt voor Zonnecollectoren te laten groeien met 15 miljoen m²
  
  

For downloading and reading the Bonn paper, you need Acrobat Reader.