An overview of solar water heater industry in India

Posted by admin on Jan 13, 2014 in Posts

The international commercial space has seen a hike in the demand of renewable energy resources. The non-conventional forms of energy are immensely used, which make them in demand in countries like Australia, China, India and other European countries.

There is a huge requirement of solar heating devices in the market and it is promoting sales. The consumer, whether for residential or for industrial purpose are witnessing the change. But, compared to China, India is far behind in the utilization, and the discussion below focuses the issue in detail.

In 1982, the Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources were formed in India that paved the way for alternative sources of energy. However, it took another decade for the solar energy devices to gain popularity. There was a visible increase in the growth rate from 1995 to 2000, which was 8 percent (approx).

There was 20.6 percent increment during 2001 and 2004 and which further jumped to above 24 percent from 2004 to 2008. From 2001, there was a significant increase in residential users as initially, commercial sectors were the primary consumers.

Still, with so much increase, the consumption is low compared to other countries like China, which uses around 65 percent (report 2008)), and is the top user in the whole world. Even European Union is quite far behind in this with the usage percent to 12 percent. The counties quite significant here, are Turkey, Japan and Israel.

In the Chinese market, the solar water equipments dominate the residential front. The solar energy is a popular mode being used and around 10 percent of the households indulge in its usage, which contributes to nearly 98 percent of the sales, annually, in this area. The country further hopes to extend its range in the upcoming years and wishes to expand the usage of residential front to 30 percent from 10 percent within the next decade.

According to the reports of 2009, 80 percent consumers have been residential users. 6 percent sales of the total annual sales of solar water heaters were contributed by hotel owners. About 6 percent of the buyers were from industrial section and about 3 percent of the hospitals.

Development in urban housing and its improvement has increased demand and supply of it. These are the two major reasons for the demand of these equipments. From 1995 to 2008, it has shown a combined growth of 17 percent. Thus, its industry is growing fast with different industry making its demand and thus, increasing its future market.