Within the 10 year Programme "Solarthermie-2000'' of the German Federal Min
istry for Economics and Technology (BMWi), large-scale solar-assisted heati
ng plants have been funded in Germany. Long-term monitoring programmes are
carried out to prove the technical and economic feasibility of various sola
r system concepts with and without seasonal storage. The paper presents a s
ummary and review of the present status and results of the activities in th
e Programme. Long-term monitoring programmes have shown that the design dat
a of the solar plants can be achieved if realistic assumptions are made. Th
e main obstacle for the implementation of the concepts on a broader scale w
ithout public subsidies is the high investment costs of the solar systems.
The main goal of the Programme is the further improvement of the cost-effec
tiveness of the solar concepts. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r
eserved.