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The European solar thermal industry is in a dilemma. Politicians criticise that the net retailer solar system prices are not going down, compared with the price for collectors and tanks which have steadily fallen in the past 10 years.
The share of the installation costs of a solar water heater in Germany, Italy, Portugal or Spain is 37%-50% of the total retailer price. But it seems that the European manufacturers see no problems with this.
'In Italy there are a lot of old houses with sloping roofs, where installation is very difficult. The installers are not motivated to risk the climb on the roofs, if their margin is not high,' said Riello's Rompani.
This situation seems even more extreme in Turkey. From the low average system prices of €700 for a 180 litre double-circuit solar heater, the installer claims 37%. 'The installers earn good money in Turkey,' said Alas.
'We have several customers that install 3000-4000 solar systems a year, buying 10,000 collectors every year and they will never think about starting collector production, because it is much more profitable for them to install.'
However, in Brazil the situation seems completely different. The system price for a 200 litre unit of about €600 differs little from the price in Turkey, but the share of the installation is only 10%.
'There was no heating industry established before the solar thermal industry started, so the manufacturers had their own installers sell their products,' said Mesquita.
The consultant sees a completely different situation in Europe. The solar thermal system suppliers compete in the already existing distribution chain of the traditional heating sector.
'We are now stuck at that point, because it is very hard to change this established chain,' said Mesquita, who sees this issue as a major barrier in central European markets.
Author: Haining SunSurf New Energy Technology Co., Ltd
website:www.sunsurf.com.cn
main product: solar heater,solar energy
