China dominates the world solar heating market, with about three quarters of the world’s total installed capacity. This is because solar heat is often the only alternative available for hot water supply in residential buildings. Europe is in second place, with the greatest number of solar collectors in Germany, although Cyprus, Greece and Austria are far ahead of other European countries in terms of number of units per capita. However, all these countries have an energy policy that supports solar energy.
Sweden has about 15 000 solar heating systems in operation, with new ones being added at a rate of about 2000 per year. Most of these are smaller systems. Although Sweden and other colder countries have fewer hours of sunshine than countries around the Mediterranean, it is likely that installation of solar heating systems will be relatively substantial due to the steadily rising prices of energy. Sweden also has some of the world’s largest installations: the largest collector array in the country is in Kungälv, with 10 000 m² of collectors supplying 4000 MWh of district heating per year. The world’s largest solar heating installation is in Marstal in Denmark, with 18 000 m² of collectors.
Solar cells
Globally, the solar cell industry has a turnover of about SEK 100 000 million per year. In 2008, installed capacity amounted to 5.95 GW.
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Thermal solar energy
In 2007, world thermal solar energy production capacity amounted to about 150 GW of heat, corresponding to about 210 million m² of solar collectors. In terms of installed capacity, the solar heating market today exceeds the wind power market.
Sweden. Sweden has about 375 000 m² of glazed solar collectors, to give a nominal output of 270 MW. In 2008, they delivered over 100 GWh. In addition, there are about 120 000 m² of pool solar collectors, delivering an output of about 85 MW. There are also about 65 000 m² of solar cells, producing an output of about 8 MW, and generating about 7 GW of electricity in 2008.
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