Dear Colleagues and Partners of the Solar Heat Europe network,
It gives me great pleasure to address you all with this newsletter, at the end of what has been another intense year for the energy transition.
Indeed, 2024 is marked by the finalisation of many important files in Brussels under the Fit for 55 package which are crucial for our sector: Among these are the RED, EED, ETS 2, EPBD and more recently NZIA, here to ensure that clean technologies such as solar thermal see their market grow substantially.
Like other renewable sectors, we need to see this demand grow at a much faster pace than what the latest market signals have shown us. The vibrant community of the solar thermal industry, based in Europe and proud to manufacture across the continent, is ready to see its production lines ramp up. Several of our members are building new sites as we speak, confident that our technologies will be the ones that our various markets will embrace because they are clean, renewable, and provide very affordable and reliable heat!
The Solar Heat Europe team, led by our Managing Director Valérie Séjourné, has put forward an enormous effort to ensure that the value and the presence of solar thermal was recognized in these crucial pieces of legislation included in the Fit for 55 package.
One important example is the Solar Mandate, which requires the deployment of all solar technologies (including solar thermal and PVT) on certain types of buildings, starting with public and non-residential buildings and then on all new residential buildings by 2029. This provision represents a huge opportunity to boost the uptake of solar thermal in buildings from 2026 onwards. Solar Heat Europe has been rightly advocating for crucial adjustments in this and other policy files to also open new areas of impact and business for our sector, in applications such as Solar District Heating or Solar Heat for Industrial Processes.
During this year, our Association has strived to build new alliances with target sectors and acted as a real promoter for our companies by raising awareness, establishing ties and building credibility towards clients and final users through a collective effort.
The energy transition is happening, not as fast as it should, but it is happening right now before our eyes. I am confident that policymakers, civil society and cities will increasingly realise that the transition cannot be achieved successfully without renewable heat. In this context, solar thermal deserves to be adequately promoted and supported because it has a lot to offer to citizens, industries and the planet. We are leveraging on this interest and turning it into measures that will help us grow as an industry, in all its value chain.
Now, more than ever, we are called to get together, show our collective capacity and unity, not only at a European but also at a national level, because this where the Fit for 55 Package must be implemented, allowing the respective markets to grow! Across Europe, our National Associations are doing their best and succeeding in this endeavour. Our entire industry needs to be supportive of their voice and work alongside them. Rest assured that our sector is fully committed to the successful implementation of the Fit for 55 package.
We are very much looking forward to working with the newly appointed Commissioners and their respective teams to make sure that our European clean tech industry, which can make a significant contribution to decarbonisation efforts, will thrive! A crucial file will be the Clean Industrial Deal and its Decarbonisation Accelerator Act. Furthermore, we are looking ahead to the Affordable Housing Plan and to the supporting framework which will accompany the adequate financial support – both public and private – to achieve the vision of the Green Deal, namely climate neutrality by 2050. Our sector is ready deliver its fair share towards this objective.
Enjoy the well-deserved holidays! We wish you a happy and prosperous 2025 and look forward to working with you during the new year!
Guglielmo Cioni, President of Solar Heat Europe
About Solar Heat Europe/ESTIF:
Solar Heat Europe/ESTIF’s mission is to promote solar heat as a key technology for the decarbonisation of heating and cooling in Europe and to realise the high potential of solar heat in the energy transition. With members in more than 15 European countries, Solar Heat Europe members cover different parts of the value chain, being based in countries as diverse as Finland or Cyprus.
Contact:
| Valérie Séjourné Managing Director valerie.sejourne@solarheateurope.eu Tel: +32 471 34 19 24 | Anna Ledro Communications and Events Officer anna.ledro@solarheateurope.eu Tel: +32 2 318 40 59 |