Solrico

This week, the Swiss Bank Sarasin published the 12^th edition of their solar industry report, covering all three solar technologies: solar heating and cooling (ST), photovoltaics (PV), and concentrating solar power (CSP). The chapter on solar thermal identifies great differences in the market development of national markets and regions. While the Chinese market continues to shine, many European countries are suffering from decreasing or stagnating markets. Nevertheless, Sarasin predicts a great future, with a global average growth of 12% per year until 2020.

The ISOL Navigator has been launched at the Intersolar Europe in Munich at the 8th of June. The international study presents the current and future market development in 16 key solar heating and cooling countries. The ISOL Navigator is based on the “ISOL Index”, an international business climate index developed by German agency solrico at the beginning of 2010. This ISOL index is a point-based indicator (ranging from 0 to 100 points) showing the satisfaction of solar thermal manufacturers and system suppliers with current and expected market development. Company values are averaged to obtain country and regional indices.
Figure: solrico

“Competition on price” was one of the key questions of the panel discussion at the international conference SMEthermal 2011 in Berlin on 10 February. Representatives from the major solar thermal markets worldwide discussed the challenges of the world market among them (left to right): Hakan Alas, General Manager, Ezinç Metal (Turkey), Michael Hsu, CEO, Sunshore Solar Energy – Business Development Central Europe (Austria/China) and Lucio Mesquita, Managing Director, Thermosol Consulting (Canada/Brazil). SMEthermal is an annual one-day conference dedicated exclusively to manufacturing of collectors and tanks, new materials and process optimisation. There were 160 participants from 22 different at the event.
Photo: Solarpraxis AG / Therese Aufschlager

The 10-year anniversary of solar water heater manufacturer Micoe Solar Energy in China was accompanied by major news and events: The manufacturer, founded 2000 in Beijing, opened a new factory in the city of Luoyang in Henan province, at which it produces vacuum tubes with a new absorber coating. And, according to a recent household survey, Micoe is the second most popular solar brand in China.
Photo: Micoe

Air collector systems of Grammer can now be simulated and planned with the new version 5.0 of T*SOL Pro, the dynamic simulation programme for the design and planning of solar thermal systems, developed by German company Valentin Software. The programme is the result of a close collaboration with German air collector manufacturer Grammer Solar.
Figure: Valentin

“How long is the warranty period of your flat plate or your vacuum tube collector?” This question was posed as part of a global solar thermal industry survey to 300 collector manufacturers from 40 different countries. Figure: solrico

Commercial applications have gained momentum in the US over the last two years. The system shown in the picture is a project by the The Leveredge company from Florida. The 223 m² installation heats up to 15,000 litres per day.
Photo: The Leveredge