Einfluss von Normungs- und Qualitätssicherungsprozessen auf Innovation und Diffusion in der Solarthermiebranche

The present study investigates the connection between processes of standardization and quality assurance and the innovations of the solar thermal energy branch as well as the diffusion of innovative solar thermal products into the market. This work consists of two parts. Part I summarizes the aim of the research and presents the basics of innovation management. To begin, the guiding questions will be discussed: How do standards influence innovation in the solar thermal energy branch? How do collector manufacturers take such influences into account? And how does public funding or subsidy schemes affect the technical development in the solar thermal branch? Subsequently the methodology will be outlined, making use of exploratory, partly structured expert interviews in order to draw empirical and qualitative conclusions regarding the research question. To this end, interviews with heads of research and development from the German solar thermal energy sector were carried out. These were analyzed in respect to the boundary conditions and their influence on the decision making during the development process. Another important aspect was the awareness and knowledge of the technical decision makers regarding the normative requirements and the resulting consequences for the market diffusion of newly developed products. As a next step, deficits in the innovation system and in the context of the research question were identified and taken into consideration in various research projects. Three solar thermal technologies were chosen in order to demonstrate the theoretical foundation: • solar air heating collectors, • concentrating collectors and • photovotaic thermal collectors. The identified deficits concerned administrative, methodological and technical aspects. The administrative shortcomings encompassed missing characteristics for specific products in relevant administrative forms or routines that ask for parameters that do not even exist for those innovative products. In addition, methodological gaps were found. One of these gaps is the improper handling of the constant row end losses as part of the incident angle dependency when up-scaling the performance characteristics of concentrating collectors. Further, the empirical determination of the incident angle modifier (IAM) in case of open-to-ambient Solar Air Heating Collectors is not defined. Likewise, the integral consideration of temperature induced (electrical) power reduction of photovoltaic-thermal collectors on the basis of measurement data is not treated correctly. And there are others more. Therefore, in some of these cases, even technical improvements were identified to be needed. These were, to give an example the construc-tion and design of a method to measure the up- and down-stream air temperature when calorimetrically bilancing the power output of a Solar Air Heating Collector in a representative and accurate way. The results as well as the methodological and technological solutions that were obtained during this process were then partly implemented in order to close administrative, technical and methodological gaps in the innovation system of the solar thermal energy branch. The results were published and discussed with the relevant expert committees. Following the validation and adaptation of the suggested solutions, many of the resulting suggestions could be implemented in the relevant standards and the respective certification schemes. Following discussion with the relevant authorities, transitional solutions were found that did largely overcome the market distortion caused by the impending lock-in effects. Part II of this study comprises a range of publications. It consists of eleven papers, organized in terms of the above mentioned technological points of focus. They reflect the various aspects in detail and offer solutions. The publications take several forms, from accompanying publications of scientific poster presentations at international symposia to articles in peer-reviewed journals. Both technical solutions and methodological improvements are outlined and thus presented to the scientific community for discussion