BDH

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 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.

Has observed the German solar thermal market for decades: Graduate engineer Dietmar Lange had, for many years, been Technical Director at various German collector manufacturers and solar thermal system providers until he became a freelance consultant two years ago. Solarthermalworld.org spoke with him about the technological trends and political developments on the largest European market.

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.

The growth of the German solar thermal market is coming to halt – or even worse: The market statistics of the solar industry association BSW-Solar and the heating industry association BDH (BDH/BSI statistics) show a strong decrease during the summer months.
Photo: Bärbel Epp

The German solar thermal market more than doubled in 2008. According to the solar industry association BSW-Solar and the heating industry association BDH; 2.1 million m² of new collector area (1.5 GW_th) were installed on German roofs last year (940,000 m² = 658 MW_th in 2007). This proves to be a great success after the downswing in 2007, when the German solar thermal market experienced a 40 % decrease in collector area installations.