TEHRAN, June 05 (Shana) � Iran's Research Center of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) has launched the first laboratory for testing solar hot water systems (SHW) and collectors.

Supported by the committee of renewable energies at the Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology, the lab is regarded as the first center for testing solar equipment.

It was unveiled on Sunday, June 05, 2016, in a ceremony attended by head of the RIPI, Hamid Reza Katouzian.

It is now years that solar hot water systems have been developed in Iran but because of the lack of such a lab, they could not have been carried out inside the country.

The lab allows testing of solar collectors and water heaters.

A solar thermal collector collects heat by absorbing sunlight. A collector is a device for capturing solar radiation. Solar radiation is energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation from the infrared (long) to the ultraviolet (short) wavelengths.

By SHAN