Welcome to Solar Heat Europe

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We all know the importance of the Sun. The simple existence of life on Earth depends on it. And our future relies on our capacity to exploit its potential adequately.

Our industry delivers proven reliable technologies, using modern processes, from nanotechnology to laser, in order to bring to you, your family, your business, the warmth of the Sun.

WE ARE SOLAR

Heat represents almost half of the energy demand in Europe, and the vast majority of the energy bill of European households.

We provide heat in a clean, sustainable, and economic way.

We can provide hot water, space heating, solar heat for industrial processes or solar district heating.

We can even provide cooling! And, most importantly, we provide a sustainable future for our society.

WE ARE HEAT

We are a European industry. Many of our systems are manufactured in Europe, with European labour and components. We have over 10 million systems providing solar heat in Europe. From a small thermosiphon system in Cyprus to a large 100 MW solar district heating plant in Denmark.

Furthermore, we have the technological lead worldwide. European companies are at the forefront of the Solar Heat innovation; every year new records are broken and new challenging projects are put in place.

WE ARE EUROPE

Together with you, we build a future where we can warm ourselves without warming the climate.

We are Solar.

We are Heat.

We are Europe.

We are

Interested in knowing more about Solar Heat technology?

5 Facts on Solar Heat Technology

Worldwide, in 2015, solar heat employed some 730 000 workers and generated a turnover of €21 billion.

Worldwide, in 2015, with 435GWth, solar heat had a similar installed capacity to wind, and higher than solar PV.

In Europe, there are currently over 10 million solar heat systems installed.

In 2015, the turnover of Europe’s solar heat sector was €1.9 billion.

23 700 jobs in Europe were provided in 2015 by the solar heat sector.

Solar Heat Europe Policy Solutions

Promote renewable heat

Decarbonizing heating and cooling will be the main challenge for Europe’s energy system, and the use of renewable heat will be vital. The EU Clean Energy Package proposes specific measures to mainstream renewables in heating which is positive, but these need to be more ambitious, and binding for Member States.

Exploit synergies between renewable heat and energy efficiency

The EU Clean Energy Package offers several opportunities to promote such synergies, be it in the efficiency obligations schemes, or in the Smart Financing Initiative (SFI). Rather than playing one against the other, the two must be seen as complementary, while removing fossil fuels from our energy system.

Increase the replacement of heating systems

When replacements are planned in advance, renewable heating technologies such as solar heat are easier to be integrated in the systems. Promoting the labelling of existing heating systems would encourage citizens to shift to more efficient and renewable appliances.

Increase the renovation rate of buildings

Accelerating the rate of building renovations, along with advancing nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB) standards, plus integrating minimum levels of renewables, would greatly help to promote a more decarbonized heating supply. Building renovations are the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the synergies between energy efficiency and renewable heating, and solutions, such as prefabricated building façades with integrated solar heat collectors, already exist in the European market!

Adopt efficiency as a systemic approach

The transformation of the heating sector can take many forms, not all leading to real decarbonization: the debate on heating electrification must take into careful consideration the difference between efficient electrification (where it makes sense, and only using efficient appliances and processes) and a wilder one aimed at keeping the utilities’ dirtiest fossil fuel assets, thanks to increased demand, by promoting the most inefficient solutions.

Questions & Answers on Solar Heat Technology

What is the market potential of solar heat technology by 2050?

Solar heat technology can play a crucial role in the 2050 European energy mix. Since solar heat technology can cover up to 47% of low temperature needs by 2050 with a favourable policy framework. This percentage represents 133 million tons of oil equivalent and approximately 285 924 million tons savings in terms of CO₂ emissions. Besides savings in energy bills and the reduction of European dependency on energy imports. Solar heat is growing in specific sub-sectors, such as industrial process heat and district heating. In these, and other sub-sector, it is being used to upgrade systems at a better price while reducing carbon emissions and air pollution impacts. For industrial process heat, the potential is tremendous: now there are just a few solar process heat systems in operation, totalling around 218 MW_th of installed capacity worldwide, while around 40% of the industry’s heating needs lie in the range of temperatures that can be delivered with solar heat.

How can solar heat contribute to Europe’s decarbonization agenda?

The heating sector is among the highest emitters of greenhouse gases. While electricity is far from being decarbonized now and cannot provide a decarbonized supply alone to cover the entirety of the space heating and hot water demand, solar heat is a quick win to shift from fossil-based heating supply, to a cheap, abundant and clean source of heating. The solar heat sector saved between 6.3 and 7.9 million tons of CO₂ in 2015 in Europe – a number which could reach 687 million tons of CO₂ per year in 2050 with the proper incentives of policy-makers. Worldwide, solar heat is already delivering a CO₂ reduction of more than 120 million tons annually.

How can European policy-makers facilitate the deployment on the market of this technology?

There are several steps policy-makers can take to boost the deployment of solar heat technology:

First of all, a proper implementation of the 2020 Renewable targets by Member States is needed and Member States must push forward their efforts to decarbonize the heating & cooling sector.

Then, European policy-makers must shape the European Clean Energy package in line with our ultimate common goal which is to achieve the 100% decarbonization of our societies by 2050.

Additionally, there are obvious synergies between renewable heat technologies and energy efficiency: together they can contribute more efficiently to removing fossil fuels from our energy system.

Finally, we need to increase the rate of building renovations and encourage citizens to replace their old heating systems with more sustainable solutions, by promoting for instance the labelling of existing systems and facilitating access to adequate financing mechanisms, such as soft loans, that can be effective catalysers for new investment by European consumers in clean energy sources.