Solar Collector Market Report

The solar collector market is surging in its growth due to the technological advancements and supportive government initiatives. Government of many countries offer tax credits, subsidies, investments and financial incentives for solar energy adoption, which lower the upfront costs for the consumers. For instance, in April 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced 60 selectees that would receive US$ 7 billion in grant awards through the solar for all grant competition to deliver residential solar projects to over 900,000 households nationwide. Additionally, many country governments fund the research and development activities in their respective countries to foster innovations in materials and technologies further enhancing the efficiency of the solar collectors. For instance, in April 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) announced the Concentrating Solar Flux to Heat and Power funding opportunity, which will award up to US$ 30 million for research, development, and demonstration projects that accelerate the large-scale development of CSP technology.

Similarly, according to RoHS Directive of European Union, certain hazardous substances, such as cadmium, lead and phthalates, in electrical and electronic equipment are restricted, with 7 other hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), excluding solar energy generation equipment. Nonetheless, certain manufacturers strive to differentiate themselves by emphasising the absence of substances restricted under RoHS, which gives them a certain level of benefit in gaining consumer trust. The advancements in the materials, manufacturing processes and deployment of the panels used in the generation of solar energy can serve as the great opportunity for manufacturers to differentiate themselves among other competitors. For instance, in April 2023, Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., the foremost United States based designer and manufacturer of light weight, elastic, copper indium gallium selenide solar (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic solutions, announced to launch a production line of easy to assimilate Space Hardware Development Kits (HDKs) at the Space Foundation Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States.

Environmental concerns and regulatory frameworks might significantly influence the adoption and growth of solar power market affecting the demand for solar collectors, despite its reputation as cleanest source of energy. These environmental concerns have compelled the regulatory authorities to implement regulations. For instance, the American National Standards Institute, ANSI, established eco labelling measure for PV panels in ANSI standard 457, established by National Sanitation Foundation, NSF, International with the backing of the United States Green Electronics Council (GEC). The criteria have seven performance categories, including management of materials, energy efficiency, and end-of-life management with two natures of standard, which are product standard and corporate standard. Manufacturers of the equipment have to meet one of three performance levels, namely, Bronze, Silver, or Gold, to be able to sell the products in the United States.

In addition, according to European Union, the management of End-of-Life products in the photovoltaics industry comes under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies, which not only cover photovoltaic panels but also encompasses inverters, collectors, storage systems, and their associated packaging. The code of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) means that whoever sells a merchandise on the European market, is also accountable for organising its collection, handling and financing once these become unused. Consequently, in addition to assuring the quality and safety of the goods sold on the European market, manufacturers must also provide for the ecologically sound management of waste from products and packaging. These regulations which increase the operational cost of the product might deter the manufacturers. As the market players try to comply with these regulations, they may also face the challenge of competitive pricing.

Similarly, according to International Code of Council, a solar thermal collector must be designed to operate between specified temperature and pressure range to withstand environmental extremes, such as hail, sleet and other anticipated circumstances. The specific design of the solar collector specified by the authorities oblige the manufacturer to invest heavily in research and development sector, which might affect the investments and cashflow of the company. Additionally, there are stringent regulations over material used as well, which prohibits manufacturers from using certain incompatible materials. The regulations over material used makes it difficult for the players as sourcing of the materials gets affected, justifying the higher price of the product.

As there is global shift towards renewable sources of energy, the solar power industry is becoming increasingly concentrated. Consequently, to maintain competitive edge in the market, many major players opt the product launches. For instance, in October 2024, JinkoSolar, the global leading PV and ESS supplier, announced the launch of its highly-anticipated next generation TOPCon technology solar panels named Tiger Neo 3.0, which distributes the world's most influential modules of up-to 670 watts and the solar industry's first-ever 495 watts residential modules.

Additionally, in June 2024, World4Solar launched a pre-assembled housing solar canopy, HelioWing, at an occasion in its storeroom in Miami, Florida. The HelioWing is accessible in 2 base representations, HelioWing-5 with 7.38-kilowatt peak and the HelioWing-7 with 9.84-kilowatt peak. The HelioWing-7 top is made of 24 Aptos 400 watts bifacial solar panels. The company uses Sol-Ark 12kW hybrid two-phase inverters for its canopy. In addition, many key players in the market of solar power try to gain the upper hand in the market by partnerships and collaborations, and mergers and acquisitions. For instance, in February 2024, AKG and Consolar, a technology leader in solar systems, joined forces for the sustainable exploration of new production avenues, particularly for photovoltaic-thermal systems, PVT systems. AKG is expanding its portfolio to become a supplier to Consolar, enabling the production of PVT collectors in larger quantities.

Additionally, in October 2024, Qcells, a complete energy solution provider, announced the sale of the Appaloosa Solar Project to Puget Sound Energy, PSE, Washington state’s largest utility company. This project is a 142 megawatt, MW, solar PV project in Garfield County, Washington, and would be co-located with PSE’s existing Lower Snake River Wind facility, which would power the equivalent of more than 30,000 homes annually. Similarly, in July 2024, Heliene, Inc., a customer-first provider of North American-made solar PV modules, and Premier Energies, India’s second-largest solar cell manufacturer, had announced a joint venture to establish a solar cell manufacturing facility in the U.S. Under the terms of the contract, the facility would commission 1 gigawatt, GW, of N-Type cells yearly, meeting the cell necessities for both Heliene and Premier.

Similarly, in July 2024, TIGI, a provider of renewable heat generation and storage solutions and services with offices in Israel and Austria, announced that it had entered into a partnership with Eren Groupe, a leading global player in energy transition to set up dedicated platforms for developing, financing, and operating renewable heat projects via an innovative Heat-as-a-Service model, making clean energy accessible and affordable for industries globally. Eren would participate in a fundraising round to become a minority shareholder of TIGI and up to 40 million Euros will be made available for equity financing of projects providing volume to investment projects valued at 100 million Euros.

Asia Pacific is the most dominant region in the solar collector market due to its growing population and urbanization tending towards the larger usage of electricity. Additionally, the region includes some of biggest manufacturing countries of the world, including China, India, South Korea and more. Solar collector is the core element in the solar power generation equipment which makes Asia Pacific to be the its largest market. According to International Energy Agency, while the surges in renewable volume in Europe, the United States and Brazil made all-time highs, China’s quickening was astonishing. In 2023, China produced as much solar photovoltaics as the entire world did in 2022, while its wind additions also grew by 66% year-on-year.

Europe is one of the largest markets of the solar collector, due to increasing consumer awareness, government initiatives and the technological advancements taking place in the market. The region has seen significant growth in solar power market with the key players focusing on marketing and branding such as, Hewalex, Viessmann and TVP Solar. Additionally, the market in the region is set to grow as there is a lot of emphasis on sustainable development, and solar being the cleanest source of energy available at the point of time.
The solar collector market is seeing the notable growth in the North American market due to higher energy rates and environmentally conscious consumers. According to U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, the average electricity price in the United States is US$ 0.178 per kWh, reaching the highest in California to US$ 0.28 per kWh. But, the average cost per watt for solar panels in the United States is around US$ 2.75 per watt before incentives, which can reduce after the incentives are added. Additionally, the consumers in the United States are more eco-conscious, which gives advantage to the manufacturers to spare the effort on advertising and branding of their products.