EBHE

The solar thermal industry in Greece has not been as much affected by the financial crisis as other sectors in the country. A good case in point is Elitherm, one of the pioneering collector manufacturers in Greece, whose core business was floor heating products, piping and plastic window frames. “We had to reduce our number of employees from 150 to just 30,” explains Emmanouel Kastanakis, the owner of the company. The remaining staff is now concentrating on the production and sales of solar water heaters and photovoltaic systems.
Photo: Elitherm

Every fourth Greek household gets its hot water from heating with the sun. The solar market, however, stagnated in 2010. Substantial support mechanisms are needed to fulfil the objectives of the National Renewable Energy Action Plan.
Photo: Joachim Berner

Reserving the roofs of residential houses in Switzerland for solar thermal installations: This is the major item from the request by the two well-known solar thermal manufacturers in Switzerland, Jenni Energietechnik and Soltop Schuppisser.
Photo: Jenni

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

The statement "Photovoltaics is strong competition" resulted in different responses among the solar industries of different countries. Greece is one of the countries where the industry does not agree with it. Source: solrico

Some recent personnel changes taken by the new Greek government makes you optimistic about the future of renewable energy policy in Greece. First, the government appointed Prof. Arthouros Zervos, long-term President of the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) and the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), CEO of state-controlled Public Power Corporation (PPC), the country’s biggest electricity provider.

The solar thermal market in Europe is by far a mature sector with a substantial total turnover of more than € 2 billion and more than 30,000 jobs. This is shown by the Solar thermal barometer published in October by the French-based organization Observ´ER. These figures result from some simple assumptions.