What are the long-term future perspectives of the sector in Europe?
The ambitious scenario of the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) expects Europe will reach 0.7 kWth (1 m2 of collector area) per European in 2020, equivalent to a total capacity in operation in the EU by then of 320 GWth. To reach this target, a suitable support framework will be required and solar will then be widely used for both cooling and supplying process heat, though the majority of this capacity will still supply domestic hot water and space heating. The average yearly growth rate of the EU market necessary to reach this target is 31 % – less than the rate achieved in 2006 and only 7 % above the 2002 to 2006 average. This scenario requires – supposing a linear growth – an installation of 12.2 GWth (17 million m2) in the year 2020, six times more than in 2007, when 2.1 GWth (3 million m2) were newly installed in Europe as a whole. Further Information: “Solar Thermal Action Plan for Europe” by the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) http://www.estif.org/policies/st_action_plan/