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Solar Production Technology
Upturn for Solar Heat
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Actually, solar collectors ought to be a bestseller: For years, the price of heating oil has been climbing and hit its historic all-time high again for the first time in August at one Euro per litre. For many consumers, the pain barrier has also been achieved, as the rising heating costs are tearing deeper and deeper holes in their budgets. Nevertheless, they are showing little interest in alternatives such as solar thermal energy. Between 2008 and 2011, the collector market nosedived by 40 percent. And this year too, sales bobbed up and down just around the previous year’s level.
But this should change. In its “Solar Heat Roadmap - Strategies and Measures of the Solar Heat Industry for accelerated Market Growth by 2030”, the German Solar Industry Association (BSW) believes that strong growth is ahead for solar thermal energy. The two market research companies, Technomar and Co2online, as well as the Institute of Thermodynamics and Heat Technology (ITW) at the University of Stuttgart analysed the situation of companies for almost a year. Their positive outlook: Solar thermal energy will contribute greatly to a future climate-neutral building stock. The industry will achieve a leading position on the global market, thus attaining growing export shares, a higher added value and more employment in Germany. In addition, companies want to reduce the prices by more than 40 percent by 2030 and increase sevenfold the annual installation in Germany to 5.7 gigawatt (GW) of solar thermal capacity. “The increasing oil price is helping solar thermal energy less than anticipated. Nevertheless, the industry can contribute greatly to the energy turnaround if it does its homework now,” says BSW managing director Jörg Mayer.
