
Solar Payback is a three-year Solar Payback project, promoting the use of Solar Heat for Industrial Processes (SHIP) across four partner countries – South Africa, India, Mexico and Brazil. As part of the German International Climate Initiative (IKI), it is raising awareness of the technical and economic potential of SHIP technologies by clear and transparent information on the costs and benefits of SHIP applications and by helping to build selected reference systems. Solar Payback partners with solarthermalworld.org to spread the results of the project to a wider audience.

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 GWth) 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 sales. Owners of …

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 takeaways from their latest report …

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, a 1 …

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 …

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 …

Industrial sector sees record-breaking capacity additions in 2019
In 2019, solar heat capacity additions reached record-breaking levels in industrial sectors around the world, coming to 251 MW in total. The countries at the top of the list were Oman (180 MW), China (53 MW), Mexico (3 MW), India (2 MW) and Germany (1 MW). Ranked by the number …

Industrial solar heat strategy and training
The SHIP training course that took place in São Paulo from November 12 to 14 was well-received by those attending it. Almost 40 engineers, planners and industry representatives participated in the three-day event held by Pedro Horta and Fanny Hübner, of ISE – Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems based …

The multiple ways to promote solar heat
The first-ever Intersolar Mexico, which took place in early September, offered a platform to promote solar heat in more ways than one. On the third of this month, a Solar Heat Workshop drew in over 40 industry professionals (see photo). Furthermore, the Heat Changer Challenge was kick started with five …

SWH performance label proposed in India
In mid-August, the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency hosted a debate with stakeholders in Bengaluru to discuss its proposed Standards and Labelling (S&L) rules on solar water heaters. The primary objective of the S&L programme will be to allow consumers to make informed choices whenever they buy SWHs that comply …

Solar heat conference at Intersolar Mexico
National solar energy association ANES is one of the partners to support the first Intersolar Mexico, which will take place from 3 to 5 September in Mexico City. ANES President Dr Angélica Quiñones believes the event will be a good opportunity to strengthen the links between academia, business and the …

Heat supply contracts: Popular but hard to implement
A popular business model for solar thermal companies is a heat supply contract. More than 80 % of the businesses shown on the global map of turnkey systems providers for industrial solar heat, also known as SHIP, see these contracts and ESCOs as important means to boost sales. Almost the …

Mexico, China and India lead global SHIP market
In 2018, suppliers of industrial solar heat technology commissioned 104 systems with a combined collector area of at least 57,283 m² (40 MWth). The number of systems was nearly identical to that a year earlier, when 107 installations came online. At the end of last year, at least 736 SHIP …