Solar Payback

July 11, 2021
IRENA report highlights falling solar heat project costs

The Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2020 report illustrates how the competitiveness of solar and wind power improved dramatically in the decade 2010 to 2020. Written by Michael Taylor and his team at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), it shows how even existing coal...
June 18, 2021
Multinationals strive to add more clean heat solutions

The latest SHIP Supplier World Map shows detailed information on 75 solar technology suppliers from 23 different countries. Together, they completed around 1,000 solar industrial heat plants until the end of 2020. The global hubs of the SHIP supply chain were Mexico and Germany, both with...
May 10, 2021
China keeps top spot for industrial solar heat

Most suppliers of industrial solar heat systems had to delay the closing of contracts and the installation of projects in 2020 because of the global outbreak of Covid-19. The pandemic became one of the main reasons for the sharp drop in the number of new solar process heat (SHIP) systems,...
April 20, 2021
Opposing trends in India’s solar thermal market 2020

In 2020, hopes for growth in India’s solar thermal market were dashed when Covid-19 spread like wildfire around the globe, causing a 10 % drop in annual capacity additions. A survey conducted by Malaviya Solar Energy Consultancy indicates 1.15 GW_th (1.64 million m²) of...
March 30, 2021
Supply chain maturity and economies of scale drive solar heat costs down

Europe’s solar thermal industry has achieved quite significant cost reductions since 2014, with economies of scale at the project level helping to drive down costs, Michael Taylor, of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), said at a 9 March webinar titled Cheaper than...
March 8, 2021
#SolarHeatWomen: Women leaders in the solar thermal sector

Every day, women around the world work hard to promote solar thermal technology and solutions. But a clear gender gap persists. And the few women who have made it to the top often do not get the visibility they deserve. To shine a light on their successes, solarthermalworld.org has launched...
January 13, 2021
solarthermalworld.org finds a new home with solrico

At the turn of the year, German market research agency solrico became the new owner of global SHC news portal solarthermalworld.org, with the January newsletter being the first to have been sent out under new management. But that’s not all: A new decade of growth lies ahead. In the...
November 4, 2020
High expectations in Brazil despite Covid-19 worries

The solar thermal market in Brazil grew by about 6 % in 2019, adding 1.32 million m² (0.93 GW_th) despite a turbulent economy. The surge came in part due to new commercial customers that require large quantities of hot water and followed four years of steadily declining...
August 24, 2020
Solar heat to be part of IRENA Cost Report 2021

The latest edition of the Renewable Power Generation Costs Report from the International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA always creates a great deal of interest, worldwide. More than 2,000 stakeholders registered for the webinar on 9 June in which Michael Taylor from IRENA explained the key...
July 30, 2020
Solar systems dry apricots and supply space heating in northern India

Solar dryers are an excellent investment for farmers drying apricots in India’s northern Himalayan region. These systems can have the fruit ready in just 2 days, whereas drying takes about 20 days out in the open. Called SolDry, they each consist of a 5.2 m² vacuum tube collector...
May 3, 2020
Growing calls for carbon taxes and mandatory quotas

It has been quite difficult to close deals with clients for putting up industrial solar heat (SHIP) systems, as these types of projects take a long time to be developed. Only 27 out of the nearly 80 companies listed on the SHIP Supplier World Map managed to start up at least one SHIP...
May 2, 2020
Where to look for the world’s most experienced SHIP suppliers

China and Mexico are the hubs of the global solar industrial heat (SHIP) supply industry. Five of the companies that completed the most SHIP projects by the end of 2019 are from China and four from Mexico; another two each are based in Germany and India (see chart above). These are the...