GSR 2025 | Solar Thermal - REN21
A comprehensive annual overview of the state of renewable energy.
www.ren21.netI’ll summarize the latest public updates on solar thermal collectors from reputable sources.
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Solar thermal technology status: Solar thermal collectors continue to be deployed for domestic hot water, space heating, and industrial process heat, with growing integration alongside heat pumps and PV-thermal hybrids [REN21, 2023/2024 overview]. This trend reflects ongoing policy support in several regions, though the market faces competition from falling PV costs and quality concerns in some shipments [REN21, 2023/2024 overview].[2]
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Market and policy developments: In early 2024, governments moved to strengthen quality controls for solar thermal collectors to protect consumers and domestic manufacturing, signaling a push to raise performance standards amid rapid deployment [REN21, 2023/2024 overview]. The CSP/industrial sector continues exploring high-temperature solar thermal options (up to ~400°C) for heat-intensive processes, indicating continued R&D momentum in concentrating solar power and advanced receivers [SolarPACES CSP News & Analysis].[3][2]
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Notable projects and demonstrations: Projects like Europe’s large solar thermal setups for district heating and demonstrations of large-scale solar fields with concentrating parabolic troughs illustrate ongoing interest in decarbonizing heating via solar thermal, especially in colder climates where seasonal storage can extend solar utilization [Absolicon article, 2020; ]. In parallel, industrial solar thermal initiatives and tracker-based systems are being showcased to reduce fossil-fuel use in heat-intensive sectors [YouTube/industry content cited in 2022–2023 sources].[4]
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Global outlook: The Solar Heat Worldwide and related industry analyses point to continued growth in solar thermal capacity, spurred by policy incentives and hybridization with PV and heat pumps, though market dynamics vary by region and competition from PV persists [REN21 GSR 2025; ], with industry reports forecasting market expansion into high-temperature and industrial applications [Solarthermalworld, SolarPACES, ].[10]
If you want, I can pull 1–2 current articles in-depth and provide a concise, cited summary with key figures (capacities, temperatures, regional adoption) and a short visual for comparison.