Europe installs 3 million m² of solar collectors in a year

PARIS, France, August 1, 2007. Europe installed the equivalent of 2,160 MW in solar thermal collectors last year.

The installation of 3,085,265 m² of glazed and unglazed collectors in 2006 was a 44% increase over 2005, explains the latest barometer from Observ’ER. “This spectacular growth is explained at the same time by the strained energy context that Europe is presently confronted with and by the political will of certain countries to develop the sector.”

“Current development of the solar thermal sector is very encouraging with a marked acceleration in growth being observed in 2006,” the report notes. Between 2004 and 2005, solar thermal grew 23.5% and 44.3% between 2005 and 2006.

Glazed collectors are the major component of the solar thermal market in Europe, with flat glazed collectors comprising 88.5% of market share and vacuum tube collectors accounting for 8.3%. Unglazed collectors are only 3.2% of the market but installations of this technology are more difficult to monitor because there are few subsidies and not systematically counted by manufacturers.

Last year, the German government decided twice to decrease the subventions to solar thermal, which have dropped from Euro 105 to 40 per m². For combined solar systems (hot water and heating), subsidies have decreased from Euro 135 to 70 per m².

“This decrease in subventions is explained by the government’s desire to not let assistance program spending get out of control in the face of the rush of new requests,” and external factors (such as concerns over natural gas supply from Russia) have “alone favoured market development.” The German market installed 980,000 m² in 2005 to 1.5 million m² in 2006, with the MAP subsidy covering only 15% of the cost.

“This beginning of empowerment of the demand of private individuals has made it possible for the authorities to set up a bigger support mechanism for large collective and private installations, whose potential has been tapped only very little up until now,” the report explains.

Last year, France continued to be the leading country in terms of growth with the market for solar thermal exceeding 300,000 m² (including 75,000 m² in French overseas regions), which is 83% higher than 2005. “For private individuals, the simplicity of the tax credit system, which permits recuperating 50% of the equipment price upon simple fiscal declaration, is particularly attractive.”

When rated on a per-capita basis, Cyprus leads with 731 m² per thousand people, followed by Austria (343), Greece (296), Germany (104), Denmark (70), Malta (59), Slovenia (56), Netherlands (40), Luxemburg (35) and Sweden (33 m² per 1,000). The EU-25 average is 44 m² per thousand.

The barometer was prepared by Observ’ER in the scope of the EurObserv’ER project which groups Observ’ER, Eurec Agency, Erec, Jozef Stefan Institute, Eufores, with the financial support of the Ademe and DG Tren.

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