U.S. market for solar thermal declines in 2003
WASHINGTON, DC, US, 2004-09-22 (Refocus Weekly)
Sales of solar collectors in the United States dropped 2% last year, to a total of 11.4 million square feet, says the Department of Energy.
Domestic shipments of 10.9 million square feet declined a similar amount from
2002 levels, according to the annual survey of solar manufacturers conducted by
DOE’s Energy Information Administration. The number of companies shipping
solar collectors has remained steady since 2000.
The market continues to be dominated by low-temperature collectors, which hold a
share of 95%. Three-quarters of all collectors are produced in California, New
Jersey, Florida, Puerto Rico or Tennessee, with two-thirds of units shipped from
California and New Jersey alone. As in recent years, up to 85% of solar
collectors were shipped to Florida, California, New Jersey, Arizona and Hawaii,
all of which (except New Jersey) have relatively high incidences of heated
swimming pools, the report notes.
More than two-thirds were shipped to Florida and California alone. Of the 0.5
million square feet of collectors that were exported, most went to Canada,
Mexico and Austria.
Five firms produce 92% of units, consistent with the 90% to 96% domination
reported over the past five years. Employment remains near the five-year
industry average, with few companies anticipating new product introduction and
most solar collector companies are in the same lines of work as in recent years.
Those firms which produce solar products continue to do so as the predominant
portion of their business, explains the report.
Prices for low-temperature collectors remain steady due to steady sales, rising
to US$2.08 per square foot last year from $1.97 in 2002. Medium- and
high-temperature collectors sold for higher average prices which boosted the
overall average price for all solar collectors to $3.19 last year from $2.85 in
2002.
The only significant shift in the U.S. market last year was between the
residential and commercial sectors, and more solar collector shipments were in
complete shipments which rose 15% to 7,266 systems in 2003 while the value of
complete shipments increased 31%. The report explains that the difference is
likely due to the average size of a complete collector decreasing from 143
square feet to 119 square feet, requiring fixed per system costs to be spread
over a smaller collector area.
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