In 2016 only 0,74 million m² were newly installed, about 8% less than 2015. The total collector area installed 2015 is around 20 million m² in approx. 2,24 million solar thermal systems with a thermal capacity of 13.9 GW in 2015. (2/2017 BSW-solar www.solarwirtschaft.de)
Over 95% of the solar thermal market consists of collector arrays on single- or two-family houses with average systems of 4- 6 m² for water systems and 10-12 m² for systems that support the space heating system.
An increasing market is expected for solar district heating grids and multi-family-houses as funding conditions have improved with a Market Incentive Program updated April 2015. (www.bmwi.de/go/marktanreizprogramm; www.heizen-mit-erneuerbaren-energien.de )
At the end of August 2016 the biggest solar- thermal installation in Germany with 8.300 m² and about 4,000 MWh anual heat yield went into operation on a former refuse site in Senftenberg in the Lausitz region of eastern Germany. The Senftenberg utilities (Stadtwerke Senftenberg GmbH) project is one of the biggest installations with vacuum tube collectors worldwide and at the same time the first large-scale installation to supply a public district heating network. The temperature wich is to deliver is 85°C in summer and up to 105°c in winter. Thanks to the late summer weather after 4 weeks in operation it could already deliver more than 20% of its predicted yearly yield. A new solar district heating system with 2.000 m² and 1.000 m³ tank buffer was also installed in Chemnitz- Brühl in south- eastern Germany last year. More large scale systems for solar district heating will be install in the next few years.
In Germany 60% of the total heat demand and nearly 35% of the final energy demand are used in applications below 100°C for space heating, domestic hot water and process heating and heating networks. Integration of solar thermal systems into heating network systems is expected to expand but stays ambitious, because nearly all heating networks operate at temperatures from 80° to 130°C which require high efficient collectors .
An ambitious expansion goal of the German Solar Heating Roadmap is to increase the share of solar heating in the requirements and regulations for households from around 1% in 2015 to approximately 8% in 2030. In German industry (heat requirement up to 100°C) the solar fraction shall rise from nearly 0% today to 10% in 2030.
With its “Energiewende” (energy turnaround) the German government intends to provide the vast majority of Germany`s energy supplies with renewable energy by 2050.