Examples of Joule II projects
A special edition of "Solar Europe", the newsletter of the Community's renewable energy (JOULE) programme, is devoted to examples of projects financed within JOULE II and the JOULE II supplementary programme. The supplementary programme is based on a Council Decision granting additional financial support to the Third Framework Programme (1990-1994), in order to ensure continuity in the Community RTD effort in the transition from the Third to the Fourth Framework Programme (1994-1998). Following this Decision, the Commission was able to increase its financial contribution in the renewable energy field during 1993 by ECU 50 million. Accordingly, a hundred new multipartner contracts will be concluded in the context of the JOULE renewable energy programme during 1993 and early in 1994. It is considered at present that no technology in the field of renewable energy should be neglected. As a result, the range of technologies financed by the Commission is very large, and the projects are correspondingly diverse. The selection described in "Solar Europe" demonstrates that, beyond the conventional areas overseen by the renewable energies programme, research financing has also been provided to less well-known domains such as heliothermodynamic or hydrogen production from renewable energy sources. The pertinence of research interests to the third world and to the environment is also illustrated.