Heat accounts for half of the EU’s total energy needs, 80% of the energy required by households, and 60% of the industrial energy demand. Despite this, only 25% of our heat in Europe is generated from renewable sources.
The decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector is imperative for reaching Europe’s net-zero targets, providing energy security, and boosting industrial competitiveness. The European solar thermal sector can advance this energy transition if proper political push and adequate incentives are in place.
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About the heating and cooling (H&C) sector
Due to the quality of the energy involved, the H&C sector is mostly decentralised, with over 120 million individual boilers powered by fossil fuels in European households. Heating cannot be effectively traded, sold or transported over long distances or across countries. While centralised solutions, such as district heating, are essential for the energy transition and to be pursued whenever feasible, the nature of the heating market will remain local and mostly decentralised with on-site renewable energy generation in buildings.
Decarbonising the H&C sector will be the main challenge for our energy system, and renewable heat will necessarily be the key solution. Due to the vast size of the sector, no technology can claim absoluteness, but a mix of different renewable heat solutions are needed to reach EU climate neutrality by 2050. Solar thermal is a key and ready-to-deploy technology suitable for this energy transition.
Fit x 55: A supportive package for the uptake of solar heat
The EU Green Deal launched by Ursula von der Leyen at the end of 2019 set the path towards climate neutrality for Europe by 2050. In 2021, the European Commission presented a comprehensive set of proposals to align EU legislation with the ambition of achieving a 55% emission-reduction by 2030, the so-called Fit for 55 package. Most of these legislative proposals were adopted before the end of the ninth legislative term (2019-2024) and have created a more supportive regulatory framework for heat decarbonisation in buildings, district heating and industry. Solar Heat Europe actively contributed to the development of these legislations by providing expert guidance on key legislations, notably the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).
Browse our different policy sections to learn more about the main articles of these legislations, which will support the further uptake of decarbonised heat solutions like solar thermal in buildings, district heating and industry. Our national associations members are now actively engaged together with their local authorities in the transposition of these directives at national level.
Renewable Energy Directive
The 2023 recast of the Renewable Energy Directive introduced a binding target for renewables in heating and cooling (H&C). Member States are required to increase their share of renewables in H&C by at least 0.8 percentage points annually (for 2021-2025) and by at least 1.1 percentage points annually (for 2026-2030) compared to 2020.
Our policy demand:
To triple the deployment of solar thermal by 2030, Solar Heat Europe calls for a Renewable Heating and Cooling Action Plan addressing the H&C demand from buildings and industry. This plan should be based on different decentralised solutions that add to the resilience of the energy system by complementing the electrification process with off-grid solutions like solar heat.
In 2022, the European Commission published the EU Solar Strategy, highlighting the importance for solar heat (as well as geothermal) to triple up their deployment by 2030. For the European solar thermal sector, this would mean the creation of 250,000 local jobs across Europe and enabling a saving of 33.3 Mt of CO2 annually.