Strategic Choices for Sustainability at EU Regional Level - The Sustainability of Renewable Energy in Europe - page 95

The success of the Danish solar thermal market is particularly envied at the EU
level: in 2012, the market has risen to 133,122 m 2 , i.e., more than double (113 %)
compared to 2011 (62,401 m 2 ). The Danish solar thermal market is unique in that it
is essentially based on the development of solar installations for condominiums and
fields of solar thermal collectors to supply district heating networks (122,000 m 2 in
2012).
Markets in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg are growing, but not
enough to reverse the trend in the EU. The main reasons for the poor state of health
of the European market solar thermal are the same for a few years (the recession
and stagnation in the construction sector), but other technologies for the production
of renewable energy, such as photovoltaic and heat pumps, have competed in the
sector.
Germany, the only EU country to install over 1 million m 2 per year, is no longer
the leading country. In southern Europe (Spain, Italy, and Portugal), where there is
the greatest potential for solar thermal, the continuing economic crisis combined
with the collapse of the construction sector is stifling the development of the solar
thermal sector in spite of the implementation of favorable technical standards.
The Austrian market, the showcase of the technology of solar thermal in the
EU, is declining: the country has installed only 208,800 m 2 in 2012, down from
235,889 m 2 in 2011. This decrease is a source of concern, given that the majority of
provinces have increased their incentives in 2012 to revive the market.
So, the German and Austrian markets have not gone well in 2012 also perhaps
because of the weather variable that has not encouraged the development of this
technology. A reversal of this trend is also difficult because the solar thermal is al-
ready well developed in these two countries and the prospects for growth logically
diminish over the years and with the increase in the number of plants. The potential
for growth is much higher in the markets of France and Italy, but the financial and
economic crisis that is currently hitting these countries represents a major obstacle
to the development of the market.
As the Polish market, some markets are better resistant thanks to the sharp rise in
energy prices, but this is only part of the explanation. The markets reflect the trends
of the construction market and the financial capacity of households.
By considering the current pace of growth of the production of solar thermal
energy, that is 7.7 % between 2011 and 2012, by assuming to maintain this rate until
2020, the EU will achieve only half of the cumulative results of NREAP relative to
solar thermal. According to the cumulative NREAP of all EU countries, the produc-
tion of solar thermal would amount to 3019 ktoe in 2015 and 6348 ktoe in 2020;
the current trend instead estimates the production of solar thermal to be 2156 and
3125 ktoe in 2015 and 2020, respectively.
A change of scale is only possible if there will be a greater political will of
the authorities. In this sense, it should also be noted that Directive 2010/31/EC on
energy performance of buildings provides for new buildings energy consumption
close to zero by 2020 (and by 2018 for public buildings) and covered by the energy
produced from RES. It also sets minimum energy performance requirements for
buildings under construction or for existing ones undergoing a major renovation.