Despite Australia’s high levels of solar irradiation and rising energy costs, its solar heating and cooling market has been in decline each year since 2010. The newly installed glazed and unglazed collector area went from a peak of 1.14 million m² in 2009 to 544,670 m² in 2016 – less than half of what it used to be. Reversing the downward spiral is the aim of an industry roadmap, titled Solar Heating and Cooling in Australia´s Built Environment, which was commissioned by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and is currently under review.

Last November, Uzbek-based Artel Group gave a tour of its new collector and tank production facility. It houses the manufacturing lines for laser-welded collectors traded under the brand name Royal. Turkish manufacturer Solimpeks entered into partnership with Artel in 2016 to plan the layout of the factory, select the machines and design some new equipment.

Two strategic decisions taken by Austrian-based supplier Sonnenkraft in early 2018 have strengthened its position on the market. First, it secured an exclusive national distribution agreement with Holter, an Austrian wholesaler of heating equipment. Second, on 4 December 2017, the supplier acquired the remaining 49 % stake in Austrian collector manufacturer Tisun. On 5 February 2018, the new owner asked for Tisun to be put into administration and an insolvency practitioner is now leading the restructuring effort.

System suppliers and importers in Italy have reported significant growth in thermosiphon sales in 2017 thanks to the national support scheme Conto Termico 2.0. “Compared to the previous year, we more than doubled the number of thermosiphon units we sold in Italy in 2017, and most systems had a larger collector area because of the level of subsidies from Conto Termico 2.0,” said Export Sales Manager Andreas Andrianopoulos from Greek-based solar thermal manufacturer Cosmosolar.

A contract to set up a solar district heating network in Langkazi county in Tibet has been awarded to Arcon-Sunmark Large-Scale Solar Systems, a Chinese-Danish joint venture. The system should meet 90 % of the yearly space heating demand in Langkazi. The system, planned to be set up by November, will consist of a 22,000 m² collector field, 15,000 m³ of pit storage and a 3-MW electric boiler.

Having the image of being too expensive to buy, too complex to install, too costly to maintain, solar thermal often loses the race against other offerings in today’s heating sector. How this trend can be reversed is one of the key questions of the IEA SHC research project Price reduction of solar thermal systems. Eight speakers will share their insights during a 1.5-hour webinar scheduled for Wednesday, 14 March 2018, from 2 to 3:30 pm GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). You can register online.