BSW-Solar

Second round of the solarthermalworld.org quiz: The winners of 2011 were announced at the end of the ESTEC 2011 conference in Marseilles, France, on 21 October. The photo shows the three participants who were able to answer the ten questions in the shortest time (from left): Jan Knaack (BSW Solar), Anja Loose (ITW Stuttgart) and Olivier Drücke (Eclareon).
Photo: Stephanie Banse

Signs of a recovering market are hard to come by when looking at the official German market statistics: The figures of the solar industry association BSW Solar and the heating industry association BDH (BDH/BSI statistics) show only a very small increase of 4.3 % during the first three months of the year, compared to 2010 which was a weak year. The chart, which was part of a presentation by the Managing Director of BSW-Solar during the German conference “Symposium Solar Energy” in the middle of May, shows the collector area that is sold each month on the German market. Its figures are based on an anonymous, monthly survey verified by a notary. The grey line represents the start of this year, with a sold area of 162,900 m² of collector area in three months.
Figure: BSW-Solar

The up and down in the German Market Rebate Programme for Renewable Energies (MAP) continues. Just in time for the beginning of the ISH, the worldwide largest trade fair for bathroom, building, energy and climate technology in Frankfurt, Germany, the Ministry of Environment published its new conditions for the MAP subsidy programme, which covers solar thermal installations, biomass boilers and heat pumps. The new regulations came into force on the same day, the 15 March (see database of incentive programmes).

International experts discussing the potential of renewable energy sources for the Sultanate of Oman in the middle of February: Among the keynote speakers were Omran Al Kuwari, CEO of GreenGulf Inc, Qatar (1st from left), Werner Koldehoff, Board member of the German Solar Industry Association BSW Solar (2nd from left), David Renné, President of ISES, USA (5th from left), Saif Al Hinai, Advisory Committee ICHT, Oman, (6th from left), Prof Ali Sayigh, Chairman of World Renewable Energy Congress UK (7th from left) and Mohammed Al Mahrouqi, Chairman of the Public Authority for Electricity and Water, Oman (1st from right).
Photo: Photo: A.R. Rajkumar, Times of Oman

The German solar thermal market decreased by 26 % in 2010. According to the solar industry association BSW-Solar and the heating industry association BDH, 1.15 million m² (805 MW) of new collector area were installed on German roofs last year. The market volume of 2010 is almost as low as the one in 2007, one year before the enormous boom in 2008. Compared to the market volume of that year, it equals a 22 % increase.
Photo: Source: ESTIF/BSW-Solar

The European Solar Certification Fund (SCF) - recently founded by the Solar Keymark Network - launched its first call for project proposals. They can be submitted to scf@estif.org until 14 January 2011, using a template provided on the website. It is estimated that in 2011, around EUR 130,000 to 150,000 will be added to the approx. EUR 90,000 to 100,000 that have been paid into the fund in 2010.

In Germany, the disparity between the photovoltaic market on the one side and the solar heating and cooling market on the other is increasing. “Whereas in 2004, the turnover of the PV sector with EUR 1.2 billion was twice as high as the turnover of the solar thermal industry, it rose to ten times the revenues of the solar heating and cooling sector last year,” Joachim Berner, journalist and solar thermal expert, argues in an article in Sonne Wind & Wärme.. In absolute figures: EUR 1.2 billion of solar heating and cooling versus EUR 11 billion of photovoltaics.
Figure: Schüco

Clear-cut concepts and mandatory targets to protect the climate was what the European Commission requested from the 27 EU members as they created their National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs). On 30 June 2010, 23 states delivered their national version – with meagre success for solar thermal technology. Carried out by the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF), an analysis of the presently available NREAPs shows that only the 8 countries displayed in the figure above included significant collector area and growth rates in their plans lasting until 2020.
Source: ESTIF

Prospects for the German solar thermal industry remain gloomy. For the second time in a row, the market has shrunk significantly. The installed collector area in 2009 (1,615,000 m²) was already 23 % less than the record figure in 2008 (2,100,000 m²). In 2010, however, installation figures have again been down from last year's figures by around 20 %. “The drop in installations is hurting the industry badly, because most German collector and tank manufacturers have just invested in new production facilities, which are now running below capacity,” Helmut Jäger, Second Chairman of solar industry association BSW Solar and Managing Director of Solvis, a manufacturer and supplier of renewable heating systems, says.

The after effects of the financial crisis are again threatening the German solar sector: Not only had the industry to cope with a 25% decrease in sales in 2009, but now the National Rebate Programme for Renewable Energies (MAP) seems to already run out of money – although the new year is not even half over.