Heat storage market is getting hotter
Solrico has published a worldwide overview of high-temperature storage solution providers on solarthermalworld.org. We were able to identify more than 30 high temperature storage providers and 31 companies took part in a survey and reported details about their technology, their customer groups, and the TRL of their solutions. read more
Growing production capacities of PVT collectors in Europe
European PVT manufacturers are anticipating strong growth in demand and expanding their factories. In November 2023 Abora Solar from Spain inaugurated its extended factory in Zaragoza, which has a capacity of 200,000 units per year, totalling 80 MWel. Sunmaxx PVT is building a PVT production plant in Saxony, eastern Germany, which has the capacity to produce 120,000 units per year with 50 MWel in total. read more
Youtube video on efficient heating with brine heat pumps + PVT + geothermal
The IntegraTE initiative for the dissemination of PVT collectors and heat pumps in residential buildings has now published the second info film. On the YouTube channel of the German research institute Fraunhofer ISE you can find the film "Efficient heating with brine heat pumps that use heat from PVT collectors and geothermal" once in German and once in English. read more
SDH on the Power Plant Technology Colloquium
solrico was invited to hold a speech about the status of solar district heating in Europe during the 55th Power Plant Technology Colloquium in the German town of Dresden Mid October 2023. 850 participants from the energy sector with seven parallel sessions and 100 exhibitors make this event the largest of its kind in the German-speaking countries. read more
Launch of Solar Industrial Heat Outlook 2023-2026
Strong growth is expected in the global solar process heat (SHIP) market. Solrico launched the first Solar Industrial Heat Outlook 2023-2026 at the end of September 2023. Based on a survey among SHIP project developers worldwide, 62 projects with 331 MW were identified that will become online in 2023 onward. read more
Solar air heating and drying – an attempt to assess the world market
Solar air heating for space heating and drying is one of the most economical uses of solar thermal. However, solar air heating is rarely reported on and there are few reliable market figures. read more
Moderating Solar Academy webinars
After the summer break, the IEA SHC Solar Academy webinars continue. The experts from the IEA SHC Task 66 will report on solar energy buildings on Tuesday, 19 September (2 PM GMT/UTC) and on Thursday, 21 September (6 AM GMT/UTC). read more
Let's talk about solar heat
Thanks Maria Zagorulko from Naked Energy for giving solrico the opportunity to participate in the podcast Hot Stuff. The June episode with an interview with Bärbel Epp shows how important market research is in the attractive market segment of solar process heat. It also highlights what we can learn from the latest solrico surveys of SHIP project developers worldwide. read more
Webinar Series offered by Covenant of Mayors
How to decarbonise your city’s district heating system with solar heating. This was the key subject of a webinar series offered by Covenant of Mayors in May and June. The cities network cooperated with IEA Solar Heating & Cooling Programme to offer two dedicated 1.5 hour webinars to introduce the opportunities and challenges around solar district heating for cities and towns across Europe. read more
Keynote on Euroheat & Power Congress Torino 2023
The district heating sector is getting more and more attention. The first International Euroheat & Power Congress after four years was booked out – both in terms of participants and exhibition area. solrico was invited on behalf of IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme to hold a speech in the dedicated solar thermal session titled: Decarbonisation of District Heating: The Case for Solar Thermal Solutions. read more
High level of dynamism on the SHIP world market in 2022
The world market for solar process heat (SHIP) is gaining momentum. In 2022, more SHIP systems went into operation than in any year since surveys began in 2017. The project developers reported 114 systems with a capacity of 30 MW. In the preceding years the survey results showed only 71 systems (2021) and 85 systems (2020). In 2022 the top five markets were the Netherlands, China, France, Mexico and Germany (see pie chart). read more
The Rise of Solar District Heating webinar
Recording of the webinar "The Rise of Solar District Heating" on 28 March is now available. Decarbonising the around 6,000 district heating networks in Europe is a challenging task in the next decade. The targets are currently discussed in Brussels within the revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). Euroheat & Power and Solar Heat Europe have joint forces to discuss the role of solar heat in this political context during a 1.5 hour webinar. Solrico was invited as keynote speaker and panelist to the event. read more
Outstanding Contributor Award
It is a great honor to be awarded as "Outstanding Contributor to Communication & Promotion of Solar Thermal" together with well-known personalities from our industry. Thanks to Solar Heat Europe who presented these awards during their 30th anniversary celebration in June 2022. read more
Status quo of solar district heating in Europe
Under the title "Bright future for solar district heating in Europe" solrico has published an article in the January issue of Euro Heat & Power Magazine. On four pages the latest news on multi-megawatt solar district heating plants are put together with examples from Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Serbia and Kosovo. read more
Solar heat will be big in 2023
Multi-megawatt solar process heat plants are on the increase. A large number of solar industrial heat plants are under construction across Europe. What is striking is that most projects are being realised using heat purchase agreements. This business model reduces the risk for the investor to a minimum. It is one of the important factors that are driving the industrial solar heat market into new spheres. read more
Info film on PVT heat pump systems in multi-family buildings
In around 3 minutes, this video explains in German and in English how PVT heat pump systems work in apartment buildings. It uses with 3D animation to show time of day-dependent and seasonal modes of operation. Finally, the video highlights three sample projects with new as well as renovated buildings. read more
Innovative Industrial Process Heat session at Eurosun
Solrico was among the speakers during the session “Innovative Industrial Process Heat” at the Eurosun Conference at the end of September 2022 in Kassel, Germany. Current and future market development in the solar industrial heat market was in the focus of the presentation. read more
Future gas price assessment
The September Newsletter of solarthermalworld.org includes a future gas price assessment published by E.ON. Kevin Bär, the Senior Manager Sales and Global Growth from E.ON, explained that the market is indicating a gas price for industrial customers of 140 EUR/MWh on average over the next four years. This is seven times more than the 20 EUR/MWh average for the years 2018 to 2021. read more
Solar heat info package 2022
Solrico was again section author for the Solar Thermal Market and Industry Chapter in the recently launched Renewables 2022 Global Status Report published by the network REN21. The report includes over 300 pages and 65 figures and aims to give a comprehensive picture of what happened in nine renewable energy technologies and report about their market, industrial and political developments in 2021. read more
Encouraging trends in SHIP market 2021
The global solar industrial heat market saw encouraging trends in 2021. The first large systems with heat purchase agreements started operation in France and Mexico. Spanish PVT collector manufacturers gained industrial heat and power customers for the first time. Technology suppliers from the Netherlands and Austria realised a growing number of agricultural heat projects. read more
IEA SHC Webinar: Market and industry trends globally
The IEA SHC Solar Academy webinar in June 2022 highlighted the latest data on market and industry trends globally. Werner Weiss from AEE INTEC provided the key findings of Solar Heat Worldwide, which is the most comprehensive annual report on solar market development. Solrico spoke about exciting news on large-scale solar heat market development. Ruicheng Zheng, Professor at the China Academy of Building Research, explains the transitioning on the Chinese solar thermal market. read more
The big names in Spain's picking up SHIP market
Spain is on a good way to become a new hub for commercial solar heat. 51 projects providing solar heat to the industry and service sector totalling 62 MW will receive funding, if the systems will be successfully commissioned by June 2023. A handful of Spanish companies will provide the technology and installation services for most of the approved industrial solar heat projects: Solatom/CSIN, TCT - Thermal Cooling Technology, Abora Solar, and Solarwall. Photo: Solatom read more
Ranking of the world's largest flat plate collector manufacturer
Consolidation among the global solar thermal industry continued in 2021. The 20 largest flat plate collector manufacturers globally managed to increase production by, on average, 15 % last year. This is significantly higher than in the previous year, with 9 %. The supplier rankings are updated regularly by solrico. The 2021 list is based on a manufacturer survey conducted in March and April 2022. read more
How to decarbonize the industry using solar process heat in Jordan?
This was the question discussed during an online workshop organized for Jordanian policy makers and other stakeholders on the 2nd of March 2022. Solrico contributed a presentation about International SHIP projects & trends. read more
solarthermalworld.org migrated
solarthermalworld.org has had a new structure since 21 January 2022. Thanks to the good cooperation with the South African web & mobile development company Cube Five Studio, the portal now runs on Wordpress instead of Drupal. This restructuring has the great advantage that updates within WordPress are significantly cheaper than those of Drupal. read more
Stock market listed solar heat technology suppliers
For the first time since almost 20 years the Autrian Öko Invest Magazine analyzes solar thermal manufacturers and project developers that are stock market listed. Editor-in-Chief Max Deml invited Bärbel Epp to write the editorial for this November issue of Öko Invest about market trends in the European solar heat market. Thanks to Max Deml for the opportunity. read more
Presentation during 19th Heat Pump Forum in Berlin
PV-thermal collectors are suitable heat source for heat pumps in larger neighbourhood schemes instead of geothermal energy tapped either by ground-buried heat-absorber mats or by boreholes. This was the key message of a presentation held by solrico during the 19th Heat Pump Forum on 24/25 November in Berlin, Germany. read more
Cost trends of solar industial heat worldwide
Large-scale solar thermal systems generate their heat more and more cost-competitive. This is shown very clearly in a new flyer "Cost Trends of Solar Energy for Heat in Industry" published in August 2021 within the Solar Payback project. read more
Insights into stock market financing
The solarthermalworld.org Newsletter July 2021 highlights the opportunities and risks of stock market financing in the solar thermal industry and features an interview with Max Deml, the Editor-in-Chief of the investment newsletter Öko-Invest. read more
IRENA report highlights falling solar heat project costs
The Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2020 report illustrates how the competitiveness of solar and wind power improved dramatically in the decade 2010 to 2020. Written by Michael Taylor and his team at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), it shows how even existing coal plants are increasingly vulnerable to being undercut by renewables. Thanks to the support of the Solar Payback project, the flagship publication now also includes a chapter on Renewable Heat Costs, highlighting cost trends for big (>35 kWth) commercial and industrial solar heat systems across the world. read more
The world of solar heat in 2020 on 9 pages
Today the Renewables 2021 Global Status Report was launched with a dedicated Solar Heating and Cooling chapter authored by solrico. On nine pages we describe the developments in the key SHC markets globally and across prospering segments like solar district heat and solar industrial heat. read more
Where to look for the world’s most experienced SHIP suppliers
Since 2017, solrico has updated the SHIP Supplier World Map on an annual basis within the project Solar Payback. Only companies responding to the most recent survey are listed on the World Map. There is an increasing number of technology suppliers offering solutions with concentrating collectors among the 75 companies currently listed on the world map. read more
Pioneering cities in solar thermal mandates
solrico has contributed a sidebar to this years Renewables in Cities Report launched by Paris-based REN21 Mid March 2021. The 1-pager highlights frontrunning cities that have implemented building codes in the last two decades, boosting demand for solar thermal solutions. read more
solarthermalworld.org finds a new home with solrico
At the turn of the year, German market research agency solrico became the new owner of global SHC news portal solarthermalworld.org, with the January newsletter being the first to have been sent out under new management. But that’s not all: A new decade of growth lies ahead. In the last months, the solar thermal sector has seen a tremendous amount of support from both industry leaders in Europe and globally renowned organisations such as REN21, IRENA and the IEA. read more
Last World Map of Solar Thermal Industry published 2015
Between 2008 and 2015 solrico carried out the largest public survey of the international solar thermal industry resulting in the World Map of Solar Thermal Industry published until 2015 in the magazine Sun & Wind Energy. You find the last version of the map and the news article from 2015 here for download. read more
Beyond CSP - a plenary session at Solarpaces
The organisers of this year's Solarpaces conference offered a plenary session titled "beyond CSP" at the second day of the conference. solrico together with DRL (Research Centre for Aeronautics and Space) summarised market and technology trends in solar industrial heat with a special focus on concentrating collectors. Around 300 experts from the community of concentrating solar power listened to the presentation. read more
Ups and downs in the 20 largest markets 2019
China again led the ranking for new installations of glazed and unglazed collectors – accounting for 73% of the total – followed by Turkey, India, Brazil and the United States. The chart shows the market development in 2019 in the 20 largest solar heating and cooling markets worldwide and was published in the Renewables 2020 Global Status Report. read more
Webinar: Strategies in the digital world
Social media channels gained further importance over the last years. Politicians all around the world are tweeting to get their messages out. Lobbyists are networking via digital media, LinkedIn groups are discussing new trends in research and technology, Facebook is replacing company websites etc. You need to find your own position and strategy in the digital world. read more
Solar Heating and Cooling Industry Trends 2019
The Renewables 2020 Global Status Report was released on 16th of June. Published by REN21 on an annual basis, the report has grown into one of the most trusted sources for data on the global energy market transformation. Solrico was again responsible for drafting the solar heating and cooling chapter on markets and industry developments. read more
Fifth SHIP supplier survey concluded: alarming results
Around the world, new industrial solar heat capacity reached record-breaking levels in 2019, coming to 251 MW in total. The top five countries in terms of capacity additions were Oman (180 MW), China (53 MW), Mexico (3 MW), India (2 MW) and Germany (1 MW). As in the last years, nearly all suppliers of SHIP were unsatisfied with business growth. Despite their years-long focus on industrial customers , most turnkey system providers listed on the map were able to put up just one SHIP plant every two years, mainly because of clients’ slow decision-making processes and low fossil fuel prices. read more
World´s largest manufacturers increase production output
One-half of the world’s largest flat plate collector manufacturers participating in the most recent survey expressed satisfaction with how business developed in 2019. One-third achieved production volumes ‘as expected’ and only one-fifth seemed dissatisfied. The large manufacturers again managed to increase production by, on average, 9 %, a slightly higher rate than the 7 % at which output grew the previous year. read more
Germany: High scrappage bonus for oil boilers
In the past several years, climate change rarely made it onto the German government’s agenda. But following the Fridays for Future protests, during which millions of people took to the streets, and the Green Party’s surge in the polls, the country’s governing coalition started looking for ways to improve its green credentials. Stakeholders in the renewable industry were surprised by how quickly the search bore fruit; as many as three measures were implemented to address issues in the heating sector. read more
Solar Heat for Cities – brochure and infographics
Why is solar heat such a smart way to create sustainable communities? It improves energy security, keeps heat costs stable for at least 20 years and cuts air pollution in towns and cities. The brochure Solar Heat for Cities published in November encourages more mayors, local council members and municipal utilities to look into this cost-effective solution. solrico was editor-in-chief of the brochure on behalf of the IEA SHC TASK 55, Towards the Integration of Large SHC Systems into District Heating and Cooling Networks. read more
Keynote at SHC 2019 in Chile
The Solar Heating and Cooling Conference 2019 at the beginning of November in Chile gathered more than 400 experts from all corners of the globe. Bärbel Epp had been invited to hold a keynote about Industry and Market Trends in Solar Heating and Cooling on the second day of the conference. The presentation included the market development of the largest solar thermal markets 2018 globally as well as the ranking of the worldwide largest collector manufacturers related to their production output in 2018 (photo: Randy Martin for IEA SHC). read more
Brazil: Industrial Solar Heat Strategy
An Industrial Solar Heat Strategy for Brazil was just launched by the project Solar Payback. In an 8-page flyer an implementation strategy is decribed that adds 7.5 million m2 of collector area in the next five years in the three major industries - pulp and paper, food and beverage and chemicals. read more
SHIP plant gallery: find more than 80 freely downloadable photos
Planning to hold a presentation on the solar process heat potential in your country? Thinking about posting news articles to your website? Just go to the website www.solar-payback.com/gallery/gallone_en.php, where you can find a photo gallery offering royalty-free images of SHIP systems around the world. read more
Recording of SHC global market webinar available
In a current Solar Academy webinar the Solar Heating and Cooling Market and Industry Trends 2018 were made a subject of discussion. solrico was invited to hold one of the presentations and focused on developments in industry and policy. read more
Update of Online SHIP Supplier World map
In 2018, suppliers of industrial solar heat technology commissioned 104 systems with a combined collector area of at least 57,283 m² (40 MWth). The number of systems was nearly identical to that a year earlier, when 107 installations came online. These are some of the findings from surveying turnkey solutions providers listed on the SHIP Supplier World Map, which was created by the international project Solar Payback. Solrico carried out this survey among around 80 turnkey technology suppliers in February and March 2019. read more
Moderation of Solar Academy webinars
The IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme contracted solrico to moderate its series of quarterly Solar Academy webinars during 2019. The first of four webinars took place at 21 March 2019 and dealt with the topic of Large-scale DHC Systems. read more
Solar water heater kits market 2018: an international survey
In 2018, solar water heater suppliers headquartered in Europe were more satisfied with sales than those not located on the continent. In all, 78 % of the former saw a strong or slight increase in sales volume last year compared to 2017. Elsewhere, the same was true for only 51 % of all businesses. Thriving export markets were Spain and Italy. These are some of the findings of the most recent solrico survey carried out in November and December 2018 (Photo: Maxlite, South Africa). read more
Fifth year of cooperation with IEA SHC
In November 2018 the Executive Committee of the IEA Solar Heating & Cooling Programme approved an extension of the cooperation between solarthermalworld.org / solrico and IEA SHC which started already in 2015. The idea of the cooperation is that selected findings from the work of the more than 400 researchers under the roof of IEA SHC are published in news articles on solarthermalworld.org over the year. read more
10th anniversary relaunch
Solarthermalworld.org celebrates its 10th anniversary by relaunching in a brightly polished design. As the premier address for solar heating and cooling news, the website serves all policy makers, researchers and professionals who want to expand their knowledge of solar thermal or their business opportunities across the globe. read more
New design of solarthermalworld.org Newsletter
The monthly newsletter of solarthermalworld.org is available in a new design. Since 2008 it offers latest news and background information on the development of the international solar heating and cooling markets. read more
Brazil´s enormous SHIP potential
Tens of thousands of companies in Brazil’s industry could be interested in using solar heat. Businesses which require large amounts of thermal energy below 400 °C can be found in several sectors, from beverage, chemical and food production to leather and textile making – the right kind of clientele for solar thermal suppliers. read more
SHC market and industry trends globally
The Renewables 2018 Global Status Report (GSR) was launched at the beginning of June. It is one of the key policy advocacy reports which is downloaded 70,000 times over the year. solrico drafted the Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC) chapter which includes the market development of the 20 largest SHC markets worldwide. read more
2017 ranking of flat plate collector manufacturers
The annual ranking of the world’s largest flat plate collector producers clearly shows the market dominance of Chinese companies in 2017. The ranking is based on a survey of manufacturers between January and February this year carried out by solrico and has now been published on solarthermalworld.org. read more
Cost development and heat prices
The 28th Solar Thermal Energy Symposium takes place from 13 to 15 June 2018 at the former German monastery Banz, Bad Staffelstein. Particular focus of this year’s event, tailored specifically to German-speaking experts, will be on business models, digitalisation and cost reduction. read more
12 expert interviews from Abu Dhabi on tape
In early November, 500 stakeholders met in Abu Dhabi for 2017’s largest experts’ meeting on integrated SHC solutions for buildings, industry, cities, regions and utilities. read more
First online world map with SHIP suppliers
The new project website solar-payback.com was launched at the end of August. One special feature is the World Map of Suppliers of Turnkey Solar Process Heat Systems. The interactive chart depicts more than 70 companies from 25 countries and their SHIP services. Some are collector manufacturers designing, planning and building industrial solar heat plants; others are specialized project developers focusing on renewable heat in industry. read more
Solar Payback Presentation at Inter Solar South America
The focus of the Intersolar South America in Sao Paulo in August 2017: photovoltaics. This only made it even more crucial for the newly founded Brazilian solar thermal industry association Abrasol to fly the flag. The opening speech on the Strategic Importance of Solar Thermal in Brazil, the title of the solar heat conference day on 23 August, came from Eduardo Azevedo (third from left), State Secretary of Energy Planning and Development at the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy, MME. read more
Launch of Info brochure Solar Heat for Industry
A picture is worth a thousand words. So we used a lot of pictures in the info brochure “Solar Heat for Industry” to illustrate stakeholders from industry, financial sector and policy the powerful resource and the huge potential of solar heat technologies in manufacturing businesses. You find statements of satisfied investors in the 20-page booklet and easy to understand hydraulic schemes of the different integration options of solar heat technology in production processes. read more
Solar Payback: Kick-off meeting in Johannesburg in January
Solrico is among the 12 partners that have teamed up for the international Solar Payback project, which aims to increase the use of solar thermal energy in industrial processes. Supported by the German Federal Environment Ministry funded by the International Climate Initiative, the three-year project will be implemented in South Africa, India, Mexico and Brazil. The Kick-Off Meeting together with the South African partners took place in Johannesburg on 23 January 2017. read more
Flat Plate Collector Manufacturer Ranking
The annual ranking of the largest flat plate collector manufacturers was recently published on solarthermalworld.org. The ranking is based on a survey among the largest industry players carried out by solrico in October and November 2016. read more
Webinar recording: Think big - Design rules and monitoring results of solar district heating systems
The recording of the webinar from 6 December 2016 is now available: "Think big - Design rules and monitoring results of solar district heating systems" read more
Survey: World Map of Solar Process Heat Specialists 2017
solrico is carrying out a worldwide survey among 110 suppliers of turnkey solar process heat systems in November and December 2016. The survey is the basis for the World Map of Solar Process Heat Specialists 2017. read more
Presentation at Green Expo Forum in Qatar
Bärbel Epp, head of solrico, spoke about „Review of International Solar Energy Support Mechanisms” at the Green Expo Forum in Qatar at the 8th of November. For the first time the Golf Organisation for Research and Development (GORD) based in Doha, Qatar, organised this international conference which was attended by around 400 stakeholders. read more
EUROSUN 2016: Video Interviews with Experts from Eight Different Countries
The International Solar Energy Society (ISES) engaged solrico partners to film and edit up to 10 video interviews with specialists during the conference EuroSun 2016 from 11 to 14 October in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. read more
IEA Solar Heating and Cooling research results on solarthermalworld.org
The IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (IEA SHC) and Solarthermalworld.org agreed on a cooperation that gives the valuable results of the international research programme more visibility among solar thermal specialists worldwide. Since October 2014 all IEA SHC relevant news are posted to a dedicated subpage on solarthermalworld.org which includes around 80 news on a wide variety of topics: solar cooling, compact storage tanks, solar architecture and solar process heat. read more
Joint webinar on the Status of Solar Heating and Cooling Worldwide - recording available
Three major SHC institutions – REN21, IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme and Solarthermalworld.org – organised jointly the webinar: Global View on Solar Heating and Cooling: Market, Industry and Policy on Thursday 30 June 2016. read more
Section Author for SHC chapter of GSR 2016
For the first time solrico was Section Author for the recently launched Renewable Global Status Report (GSR) published by the Network REN21. GSR gives a timely and comprehensive overview of the status, recent developments and trends in all renewable energy sectors. read more
Europe: 23 New and Upgraded Solar District Heating Plants of 190 MWth Start Operation in 2015
As in previous years, Denmark remained the country dominating Europe’s solar district heating market. Twenty of the 23 new and upgraded district heating plants in Europe above 350 kWth (500 m²) from the statistics compiled by Jan-Olof Dalenbäck from the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, went into operation in Denmark – whereas Austria, Italy and Sweden had only one each to show for. read more