Despite its high potential and competitive costs, solar thermal energy remains underutilized in Swiss heating networks due to technical and economic barriers. The SolNET project aims to remove these obstacles by developing and validating technical, economic, and operational solutions for the centralized and decentralized integration of large solar thermal fields. It focuses on three areas: optimizing hydraulic configurations for fields distributed across different buildings, standardizing sizing and implementation methods, and defining performance monitoring and preventive maintenance strategies. The project brings together a diverse consortium of academic players, engineering firms, solar thermal specialists, and thermal network operators, ensuring a solid foundation for the rapid and effective deployment of results.