Solar Heating Industry Review 2009 (24+ GWth new additions worldwide)

[jpak]

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/09/solar-heating-industry-review-2009

In 2008, solar thermal heating and cooling solutions gained favour in more and more countries,’ says European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) president Olivier Drücke. ‘The solar thermal market in the EU and Switzerland grew by over 60% to 3.3 GWth of new capacity, that is 4.76 million m2 of collector area,’ he adds.

Indeed, the latest ESTIF annual statistics on European solar thermal markets show that while demand for solar thermal technologies increased strongly in Spain, Italy and France, the biggest push came from the German market, which more than doubled from 0.7 GWth to 1.5 GWth of newly installed capacity in 2008.

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Although led by Europe in terms of technology development, in terms of volume, global solar thermal is to a large extent driven by China which is the biggest solar thermal market worldwide. Three out of four collectors are produced and installed in the People’s Republic. Its national market grew by a constant rate of 28% in recent years. The newly installed capacity in 2008 was approximately 21 GWth — 16 times greater than the European market as a whole.

Another promising market outside Europe is the United States. Still small but with a high potential for growth, as the statistics of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) show in their document: ‘US Solar Industry Year in Review 2008.’ According to this trade group, the US solar thermal market grew by 50% in 2008, reaching some 229,000 m² of collector area, or around 160 MWth.

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