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.

These are some of the findings from surveying the about 80 companies listed on the SHIP Supplier World Map, which was created as part of the international Solar Payback project. solrico has carried out five surveys among SHIP suppliers worldwide since 2014 and sees the technology providers in a critical business situation due to highly fluctuating demand and revenues. "Today’s policy framework will need to improve significantly over the short term to prevent an eventual exodus of SHIP companies from the market", states Bärbel Epp, Director of solrico. The SHIP suppliers call for introducing a carbon pricing on fossil fuels or mandatory clean energy quota, to increase the pressure on the industrial management to achieve environnmental goals.

The results of the latest SHIP supplier survey carried out in February and March 2020 are discussed in three news articles on solarthermalworld.org.

Update on SHIP markets 2019
SHIP supplier rankings
Factors driving SHIP growth

Presentation: SHIP World Market 2020 Final Results