Brussels, 10/04/2008: only 35 days to go until the first European Solar Days will be celebrated on May 16-17 with more than 4000 events in over 10 European countries.

Brussels, 10/04/2008: Only 35 days to go until the first European Solar Days will be celebrated on May 16-17 with more than 4000 events in over 10 European countries.

As an awareness raising campaign, the European Solar Days aim to promote the use of the sun as an energy source for all solar applications, Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic, throughout Europe. The 'Tag der Sonne' was first celebrated in Austria in 2002, and the idea has already been taken up by Switzerland and Germany where, in the case of Ger-many a whole week is now dedicated to this campaign.
It is now time to bring the Solar Days to Europe - with Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia and Switzerland ready to go in 2008.

The European Solar Days will reach thousands of European citizens throughout Europe with its networking approach. Events can be held by anyone interested in promoting so-lar energy. Solar companies can arrange to hold an open day, schools can hold educa-tional activities, cities and communes can hold information days. These are only some examples of activities and events which will help to raise the awareness of solar energy.

Solar energy is one of the most accessible and affordable sources of renewable energy available to ordinary citizens and can be used on any house or office building. And this is not only true for southern countries such as Spain and Portugal. Solar energy installa-tions can also be found in northern countries such as Norway and Sweden, where there is an ever growing number of installations.

Other countries are expected to join the initiative in 2009 which is planned to be ex-tended throughout Europe in the future. The European Solar Days will bring together major players from the solar thermal and solar photovoltaic electricity sectors throughout Europe and will help in promoting the use of renewable energy.

The European Solar Days, which are coordinated by ESTIF in close cooperation with EPIA, are supported by 25 organisations at a national and European level.

Press Contact:

Monika Kloss
European Marketing and Events Manager
ESTIF - European Solar Thermal Industry Federation
Tel. office: +32 2 546 19 89
e-mail: monika.kloss@estif.org Web: www.estif.org

Marie Latour
Communication Officer
EPIA - European Photovoltaic Industry Association
Tel. office: +32 2 400 10 13
e-mail: m.latour@epia.org
Web: www.epia.org