IEA SHC Task 73: PVT Heating Systems (Working period 2025 - 2028)

IEA SHC Task 73 accelerates the development and market uptake of photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) heating systems. Across four subtasks – liquid and air systems, awareness & policy, and modeling & monitoring – the task unites industry and research partners to consolidate KPIs, test and design approaches, standards, digital tools and monitoring data, remove barriers and speed up scalable building applications.

Short Description

As part of Austria's participation in IEA SHC Task 73 (PVT Heating Systems), the consortium of industry partners (GREENoneTEC, 3F Solar, GASOKOL) and research organisations (AEE INTEC, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria/FH OOE) strategically contributes Austrian know-how to the international work and, at the same time, ensures strong feedback of results for national R&D, standardisation and market deployment.

Within the project, large-area PVT collectors (8–15 m²) from the FFG project SolarHybrid are further developed and accompanied in operation to enable scalability, cost reductions and robust performance assessments. Real system and test data from SolarHybrid feed into model-based evaluation and validation of PVT heating systems and support monitoring guidelines, a CO₂ methodology and planning tools. FH OOE complements this with KPI development and system modelling, including MATLAB/Simulink approaches, as well as experience in near-standard testing (ISO 9806/24194) and the concept development of an extended test rig (HelioFlex). AEE INTEC contributes monitoring expertise from the Solarhaus and Large Solar Thermal Systems programmes and key building blocks from SolarHybrid, anchoring results in open, standards-compliant data instruments: Sunpeek is an open-source implementation of ISO 24194 (performance check) that is planned to be extended for PVT.

This enables, in particular, contributions to Subtask A (KPI and best-practice inputs for liquid-based systems), Subtask D (monitoring, CO₂ assessment, planning tools) and Subtask C (KPI communication, digital tools and policy inputs). The industry partners provide market-ready products, development data and practical experience, ensuring technical grounding and market relevance, while also facilitating the transfer of Task results into product development and exports.

In this way, Austria positions its industrial and research capabilities internationally and creates exploitable foundations for standardisation, digital planning and an accelerated market roll-out of PVT heating systems.

Project Partners

Project leader

DI Andreas Krainer
AEE – Institute for sustainable Technologies
Feldgasse 19
8200 Gleisdorf
E-Mail: a.krainer@aee.at

Project partners

Alois Resch
FH Oberösterreich
Roseggerstraße 15, 4600 Wels/Austria
E-Mail: alois.resch@fh-ooe.at

Harald Poscharnig
GreenOneTec
Industriepark Str. 1, 9300 St. Veit an der Glan
E-Mail: harald.poscharnig@greenonetec.com

Christian Kloibhofer
Gasokol
Solarpark 1, 4351 Saxen
E-Mail: christian.kloibhofer@gasokol.at

Alexander Friedrich
3F Solar Technologies
Vorarlberger Allee 38, 1230 Wien
E-Mail: friedrich@3f-solar.at

Participants

Germany (lead), Austria, France, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Belgium, United Kingdom, Spain