Solar Water Heating (SWH) is a renewable energy technology which is a cost-effective way of heating water. It does not seem that we have enough installed capacity at the moment around the world.
Where are the most capacity installed and who are the leading global players?
Solar Water Heating (SWH) is mainly used for domestic applications. However, it is also used on a large scale in the industrial sector or in commercial buildings.
The two major types of solar water heating system are active and passive solar water heating systems. An active solar water heater uses the electrical pumps to move the water around the system. The circulation can be done in direct or indirect circulation.
On the other hand, the passive solar water heater is not using any external power, and water circulates naturally through the gravitational force. They can be either a thermosyphon or integral collector system. The passive system is considered to be less efficient and cheaper than active solar water heating system.
By the end of 2018, the global solar water heating capacity was 480GW as compared to 472GW in 2017. The majority of the capacity is installed in China, the US, Canada and Europe. These figures involved unglazed water collectors, flat plate collector, evacuated collectors, and unglazed and glazed air collectors.
The leading companies in the global solar water heaters industry are Rheem manufacturing, Shandong Sangle Solar Energy Co. Ltd, Sunrain Solar Energy, Himin Solar Energy, Helioakmi S.A., Apricus, Jiaxing Jinyi, Sangle Solar and Sole S.A.
A solar water heater (SWH) is a device that uses solar thermal collectors to detect/collect the sunlight to heat water for various applications. Probably very little capacity installed so far as they are not that much common.
Solar water heaters turn the solar energy into heat and then pass that heat to the water inside the system. The main components of the solar water heater are solar thermal collector and storage tank.