SunPeek Open-Source Project Wins 2026 IEA STSHC Solar Award

The SunPeek Open-Source Project has been awarded the 2026 Solar Award by the International Energy Agency’s Solar Technologies & Sustainable Heating and Cooling Technology Collaboration Programme (IEA STSHC). The award recognizes SunPeek’s innovative and market-ready approach to improving the performance and reliability of large-scale solar thermal systems. Maria Moser from SOLID and Philip Ohnewein accepted the award on behalf of the SunPeek Steering Committee at EuroSun 2026.

SunPeek is an open-source software solution for performance checks and continuous monitoring of large solar thermal plants. As the reference implementation of the international ISO 24194 standard, it compares measured plant output with the expected performance under actual weather and operating conditions. This enables plant owners and operators to verify performance guarantees during commissioning and continuously monitor plant performance throughout operation.

Today, SunPeek is already used at more than 20 large-scale plants in six countries. At the 5.7 MW Fernheizwerk Graz plant, SunPeek analysis helped optimize the collector cleaning schedule, resulting in a 10% increase in measured performance.