Posts Tagged ‘solar market reports’

Commercial Solar Thermal Still Growing, According to SEIA 3Q Report

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 by Solar Fred

It’s not much, but SEIA and its partner, GTM Research, have included some very general solar water heating market information in its 3rd quarter executive summary.

Free Hot Water has talked to GTM researchers before about the lack of solar water heating data in their reports. They explain that there are two problems:

First, not enough solar installers are willing or able to give them enough data to create a report. So, if you’re a solar water heating installer or financier or manufacturer who’d like participate, please contact me at solarfred@freehotwater.com, and I will connect you with the person who collects data.

The second problem is a little more challenging. That is, it costs money to produce these reports, and despite the number of installers and solar thermal distributors and manufacturers in the U.S., few want to shell out the money for the full report.

As our CEO Paul Burrowes commented a few months ago at Intersolar, there’s little need for solar thermal install data. Why? Because there is such huge untapped potential. Every roof is a market opportunity, and, sadly, there are plenty of empty roofs in the U.S. that are ripe for solar heating and cooling.

Nevertheless, there is a lot of press around these reports, and it would benefit the U.S. solar thermal side to be included in those releases. But without data, that’s not going to happen. So, we hope, with your participation, that the industry can receive and process more data for these quarterly reports.

So, what third quarter data was in the latest 2011 3rd quarter executive summary?

It was only about three paragraphs, one of which was summary of previous data.  Here’s a link to get the full executive summary.

In any case, the main points:

  • Solar Thermal PPAs are growing for commercial solar projects.
  • Massachusetts has a pilot project that is allowing $30,000 construction grants for commercial solar thermal.
  • European and Chinese solar thermal manufacturers are increasingly showing up at solar trade shows, increasing competition, and….
  • “The main competitor to SWH, however, is the price of natural gas. For as long as the price of natural gas remains low, it is difficult for many to see the long-term value in installing a system.” (A recent Free Hot Water blog post mentioned this insight too.)

So nothing really new here, but we do believe that the increase in solar thermal PPA financing will indeed make commercial solar thermal competitive for apartment buildings, multifamily homes, hotels, hospitals, etc, and beat low natural gas prices.

And when that happens more often, we look forward to more in-depth coverage about solar water heating in these quarterly reports.

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Posted in Restaurant Solar Hot Water, Solar Hot Water, Solar Hot Water for Apartment Buildings, solar hot water resources, Solar Hot Water Value, Solar Thermal & Solar Hot Water News, Solar Trade Shows | No Comments »

Solar Water Heating Is Hot in MA, HI, and AZ…. Not So Much in CA

Sunday, September 25th, 2011 by Solar Fred

The latest SEIA/GTM Research U.S. Solar Market Insight report is out, and it includes news about California, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Arizona, and Maryland. Here’s a summary of the report and a bit of our own perspective.

Arizona. Arizona’s solar hot water market remains quite strong, according to SEIA/GTM, with most utilities offering production incentives that can cover up to half of a system’s costs. Nice. SEIA’s report is projecting that Arizona will be a leading market by the end of 2011. We’re crossing our fingers for our Free Hot Water dealers in Arizona. Of course, if we can help with engineering or components, please let us know.

California. The up to $1,875 incentive for residential and $500,000 for commercial and multi-family structures are still available here in California, and that’s good and bad. It’s good because California solar hot water installers still have generous incentives to offer customers. On the negative side, the incentive availability also says that consumers and commercial customers are still hesitant about investing in solar hot water.

In our view, the CSI administrators and CALSEIA need to provide more consumer awareness and education for solar hot water. Free Hot Water is doing our best to get the word out, but we can’t do it alone.

Hawaii. The Hawaiian residential solar water heating market came back to life in Q1 2011 thanks to a residential solar thermal rebate of up to $1,500 per OG-300 system. And then… the rebate was subsequently reduced to $750 per system.  However, due to Hawaii being 100% dependent on imported fuel from the U.S. mainland, solar hot water still remains an attractive option for homeowners, so sales are still strong. Speaking of OG-300 systems, Free Hot Water has three new OG-300 lines with just-reduced prices, making solar hot water systems even more cost effective for Hawaiians and our partner installers there. He mea iki. (You’re welcome.)

Maryland.  As Free Hot Water reported a few months ago, Maryland is now allowing solar water heating systems to generate SRECs (Solar Renewable Energy Certificates). However, only new systems installed after June 1, 2011 qualify. Second, only SRECs generated after January 1, 2012 are eligible.  SEIA’s analysts are saying that this policy won’t do a hell of a lot for Maryland’s solar water heating market, but they note that other Eastern states may follow Maryland’s lead, and that could grow the overall Eastern U.S. market significantly.

Massachusetts. In 2010, Massachusetts launched a pilot solar water heating rebate program with a generous $3,500 maximum rebate for a residential systems and up to $65,000 for commercial systems. Rebates are based on the number of collectors in the system and their SRCC ratings. (FYI, Free Hot Water’s SRCC ratings for our collectors are available in our online catalog.) We’re rooting for Massachusetts to continue and expand the program. The state has grown tremendously with solar PV installations, and we hope the state adds solar hot water to its aggressive cleantech growth.

That’s the latest update from SEIA/GTM Research. These updates come out quarterly and cover the entire solar industry. We’ll sum up the solar water heating side and add our own perspective as each report comes out. If you’d like to read the entire executive summary report, click SMI-Q2-2011-ES (pdf).

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Posted in SRCC OG-300 solar systems | No Comments »

SEIA Releases 1st Qtr 2011 Solar Market Insight Report – AZ, HI, and CA Solar Hot Water Growing

Sunday, June 19th, 2011 by Solar Fred

Every three months or so, SEIA (Solar Energy Industry Association) and the good people at Greentech Media (GTM) Research put out a solar industry report, and that’s great. We’ve summed up some of the insights from the solar hot water side before, most recently for the full 2010 report.

Usually, the GTM researchers include a few juicy pages in the executive summary about our little solar thermal side of the industry. However, this latest 2011 quarter has few solar hot water insights.

Not sure if that brevity is due to the lack of industry participation or the lack of vibrancy in the market, but for what it’s worth, below is the full section from the report’s executive summary.

4. SOLAR HEATING AND COOLING

The solar heating and cooling (SHC) category is composed of two distinct markets: solar water and space heating (SWH) and solar pool heating (SPH). The domestic SWH market has grown on an annual basis since 2004. The SPH market hit a peak in 2006, and while it shrank significantly in the period 2007-2009, in 2010 it made a slight recovery with indications that this upward trend will continue in the near term.

4.1 MARKET UPDATE

Incentive changes in major markets are helping to drive installations. In Hawaii, which was the domestic market leader in 2008, a mandate (with loopholes) that systems must be installed on new homes rather than offering incentives for any system severely impacted installation numbers in 2009 and 2010. But in Q1 2011, the Hawaii Energy Efficiency (HEE) program doubled the incentive from $750 per installation to $1500 per installation using ARRA funds. The amount allotted was reserved by interested participants almost immediately. Through the end of July, HEE is offering an incentive of $1000 per installation.

In the month of March, installation rates were back to up to 2008 levels. In California, the CSI’s relatively new solar water heating incentive of up to $1,875 per installation for residential homes and $500,000 per installation for commercial and multi-family structures is helping to drive increased interest in solar water heating that we saw begin in 2010.

Arizona’s market also remains quite strong, with most utilities offering production incentives that can cover up to half of a system’s costs. Look for Arizona to be a leading market by the end of 2011.

So, that’s the full solar hot water Monty for Q1. Want to read the full executive summary report with the rest of the Solar PV and CSP insights? Download it here.

Need more insights on state solar water heating incentives? Check out our recent blog post summarizing recent solar thermal incentive changes around the U.S. since December 2010.

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Posted in Solar Business Resources, Solar Hot Water News, Solar Rebates, Solar Tax Incentives, Solar Thermal & Solar Hot Water News | 2 Comments »