Brazil: 2016 Market Statistics by Newly Founded Industry Association ABRASOL
A recently introduced annual statistic by Brazil’s newly established industry association ABRASOL based in São Paulo shows that in 2016, the country was again the one with the third-largest number of new installations and the largest solar thermal market in South America. The 1,304,922 m² of newly installed glazed and unglazed water collector area (0.91 GWth) added in 2016 have put it only slightly ahead of India and behind China and Turkey. Brazil’s glazed collector market experienced a comparatively small drop of 4 % considering the country’s ongoing economic and political crisis and the slowdown of Minha Casa Minha Vida (My house, My Life), the programme which had made solar water heaters a requirement for new social housing projects. Reduced purchasing power led to a 10 % decline in the sales of unglazed collectors for swimming pools and vacuum tube collectors played only a minor role last year, garnering 2 % of sales.Chart: ABRASOL
With ABRASOL, Brazilian solar thermal businesses now have their own independent industry body, as DASOL – of which they had been members – is only a sub department of the much larger Brazilian Association of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Heating, ABRAVA. “Within our new organisation, we are completely focused on solar thermal. We have more resources allocated only to solar thermal, and we can, for example, decide freely about new member categories and membership fees much easier than before”, explains Amauricio Gomes, President of ABRASOL. The new association has already decided to invite other stakeholder groups, such as planners or research organisations, to join ABRASOL.
Solar thermal collector manufacturers had greatly appreciated the efforts to establish an independent body, market observers have said. Some companies, which had never been members of DASOL, have joined the new association, so that the number of business members has already increased from 26 founding members to 33, as listed on the association’s website (as of 30 April 2017).
ABRASOL organised stakeholder meeting on 14 February 2017 in São Paulo, where 26 experts discussed the potential of solar process heat in Brazil.Photo: ABRASOL
The residential segment continues to be the dominating sales channel for the solar thermal industry. Market statistics show this segment to have generated 56 % of all sales in 2016 (see p. 4 of the attached). The social housing programme still had a fairly considerable market share of 17 % in 2016 (down from 20 % the year prior). Industrial applications have remained a niche market, contributing only around 5 % to the total.
To increase deployment of SHIP (Solar Heat for Industrial Processes), ABRASOL has joined the international Solar Payback project, which was launched in October 2016. During a kick-off meeting in São Paulo this February, experts discussed the opportunities and challenges of solar heat in the Brazilian food and beverage, textile and automotive industry. “Solar Payback will create new opportunities for the Brazilian solar thermal industry, which has so far focused on residential applications and the service sector,” emphasised Marcelo Mesquita, Executive Secretary at ABRASOL. “There is a great need for best-practice plants and multiple communication to increase trust in solar heat for industrial processes.”
Solar Payback will run for three years and has three more partner countries (India, Mexico and South Africa). It is being coordinated by the German solar industry association BSW-Solar and funded by the International Climate Initiative. Find the brochure Solar Heat in Industry drafted within the Solar Payback project in English and Spanish attached.
More information:
ABRASOL: http://www.abrasol.org.br/
Other articles on Solar Payback:
Kick-off India (http://www.solarthermalworld.org/content/solar-payback-three-year-support-project-solar-process-heat-launched-india
Please click here for the English version of the Solar Payback brochure, Solar Heat in Industry: https://www.solarwirtschaft.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Brochure_EN_Solar_Payback_digital.pdf
