BBT Thermotechnik

Jubilee collector on display in the headquarters building: This collector panel completed in December 2009 the total of 3,000,000 m² of produced collector area Turkish manufacturer Ezinc Metal San. has produced since it started production in 1983. Photo: Ezinc

At the moment, the most important factor for the sales success in Portugal is to either be able to join the incentive programme – or to be left out of it. Only seven companies acquired the programme's membership so far (as of mid-May): The three Portuguese brands Norquente, Openplus and Solargus, the Vulcano brand of the German heating giant BBT Thermotechnik, Wikora, which is a German solar thermal system supplier, and Rigsun, a brand from Greece.

The crises of the financial markets did not seem to harm the speedy growth of the solar thermal market in Germany. Industry insiders at the conference Forum Solarpraxis in Berlin on the 20^th/21^st November agreed that the collector area installed in Germany will reach 1.7 to 1.9 million m² (1.2 to 1.3 GW). This is almost a doubling of the 2007 market volume of 950,000 m² (665 MW).

The golden jubilee collector - showcased by company founder Robert Kanduth (left) and the governor of the Austrian province Carinthia, Gerhard Dörfler, and additionally held by two Greenonetec hostesses. Photo: Greenonetec