The prospects for solar process heat are very good for the next few years. At least this is how the Austrian solar thermal association Austria Solar assesses the results of a survey conducted worldwide among project developers specialising in solar process heat.
1,000 installed systems
According to the current Solar Industrial Heat Outlook 2023-2026, 31 projects with a combined heat output of 71 megawatts will go into operation worldwide in the next few weeks. "We expect the output of new solar process heat plants to triple this year. The sound barrier of 1,000 plants in operation will be broken," reports Bärbel Epp from the market research and communications agency Solrico. The agency conducted the survey.
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Indeed, the order books of European project developers are well filled. For 2023 to 2026, the Outlook lists projects with 145 megawatts of heating capacity. However, it is not only the pure plant numbers that are changing. Increasingly, a new business model is becoming more important and industrial customers are turning to other technologies. The trend is towards heat supply contracts and concentrating collectors.
Many projects planned for France
However, demand varies greatly from region to region. In Europe, for example, France leads the list with planned projects, followed by Spain and Austria. In the Alpine Republic alone, 30 plants are planned, the most recent in a textile factory in Burgenland. A system with a collector area of 17,000 square metres is currently being built at the terry cloth manufacturer Vossen in Jennersdorf.
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More than 30 feasibility studies for projects have been commissioned for food, paper and board manufacturers as well as pharmaceutical companies. Other sectors such as the beverage, chemical and automotive industries are also increasingly relying on solar heat in their production processes.
Austria promotes feasibility studies
Austria Solar attributes the good market development in Austria, among other things, to the financing of feasibility studies in the large-scale plant programme of the Climate and Energy Fund. This has triggered a development in recent years that provides industrial companies with more energy independence by relying on the sun for heat supply.
The entire Solar Industrial Heat Outlook 2023-2026 can be found on the Solarthermalworld portal. (su/mfo)
