Even in the hottest climates, heat production makes up a significant proportion of energy demand
Source: www.iea.org
Clearly India is the next big solar thermal market, once the PV craze fades away, and more room is allocated to the solar thermal industry, the potential growth is astonishing ! Some key questions remain however, 1. Fossil energy is heavily subsidized for Indian industries, there needs to be a clear price signal on carbon in order to make solar heat competitive. 2. The infrastructure situation in India is complex and needs to be addressed in order to develop bankable solar thermal projects here. 3. Currently there are not really any local manufacturers with the capacity and experience to upscale the market and significantly reduce costs, India needs to step away from conservative trade barriers that will slow market development. 4. There is clearly a need for solar thermal integrators to replicate models from PV in the solar thermal space, currently, a few ESCO models are being explored, but more support from the government is needed. 5. Solar thermal capacity building will be necessary especially for industrial solar thermal process heat applications.
