The solar thermal market in China is receiving global attention, particularly as it represents 60% of the global market. Within the solar thermal market in China, which includes products and engineering applications, solar thermal products have the largest market share. However, solar thermal engineering applications have been growing rapidly in recent years and should continue to experience sustained growth.

Solar Thermal Product Market

 In 1996, with annual sales exceeding 1 billion yuan for the first time, the Chinese solar thermal product market entered a prosperous period. Since then, the installed capacity and output value of solar thermal products have increased rapidly with an average annual growth rate of over 20% for more than 10 years. In 2011, the installed capacity of solar thermal in China accounted for 60.1% of the world’s total, making it the world’s largest solar thermal market. However, the growth rate of the Chinese product market has been slowing since 2012. In 2013, the annual production of solar thermal products increased by only 3.3%. In the first half of 2014, the total production of solar thermal products was 28 million m2 with an output value of 42 billion yuan, down 15.1% from the previous year and the first negative growth in years. Contributing factors include a slowing global economy, decreased consumption ability caused by the international financial crisis, domestic economic restructuring and reduced domestic demand. Policies implemented in previous years such as “Home Appliances to the Countryside Program” and “People-benefit program” have also overdrawn the consumption ability for domestic solar hot water systems, which accounts for an important share of the solar thermal product market.

Solar Thermal Application Market

 In contrast to the product market, the Chinese solar thermal engineering application market has been growing. In the early days the market was not competitive because of large investment requirements, long payback periods and other economic reasons. With the adjustment of energy structure policy, the Chinese government advocated the use of renewable energy instead of conventional energy. Many local governments then began to support large-scale applications of solar thermal technology with new policies and subsidies. As a result, the Chinese solar thermal engineering market has enjoyed sustained growth in recent years. In 2013, solar thermal engineering applications accounted for 30% of the solar thermal market, an increase of more than 50%. In the first half of 2014, solar thermal engineering applications increased by 28.2% from a year earlier and accounted for 38% share of Chinese solar thermal market. It is expected that the Chinese solar thermal engineering application ma rket will further expand with the development of solar thermal technology for industrial and agricultural applications, as well as solar district heating and cooling applications.

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由于占据了全球市场近60%的份额，中国太阳能热利用市场一直备受全球瞩目。中国太阳能热利用市场主要包括产品市场和工程应用市场，从市场份额来看，产品市场所占比重较大，然而，工程应用市场在近年来发展迅速，有望保持持续增长的势头。

 产品市场

 中国太阳能热利用产品市场自1996年年销售额首次突破10亿元后迎来了市场的繁荣期。此后的十余年，热利用产品保有量和产值逐年提高，年均增长率达到20%以上。2011年，中国热利用产品保有量占全球市场的60.1%，成为世界上最大的太阳能热利用市场。然而从2012年起，中国热利用产品市场增长速度明显放缓。2013年，太阳能热利用产品的年产量增长率仅为3.3%。2014年1-6月，热利用产品总产量为2802万平方米，总产值420亿元人民币，与2013年同比下降15.1%，首次出现负增长。分析其原因，一方面因为受国际金融危机和中国经济结构调整等因素的影响，宏观经济发展速度放缓，市场消费能力下降，另一方面，前几年实施的“家电下乡”、“节能惠民工程”政策也在一定程度上透支了占产品市场销售份额最重的家用太阳能热水器的消费能力。 

 工程市场

 与产品市场发展相反，由于投资大，回收期长等经济性原因，工程应用市场在早期的中国太阳能市场中并不具竞争力。然而，随着社会能源结构的调整，国家提倡应用可再生能源替代常规能源，不少地方政府相继出台政策并划拨资金支持太阳能热利用技术的规模化应用。因此，工程应用市场在近几年呈现持续增长的趋势。2013年，工程应用市场占整体市场份额的30%，同比增长率超过50%。2014年1-6月，太阳能热利用工程同比增长28.2%，占总市场份额的38%。相信随着太阳能热利用技术在工农业领域的发展，工程应用市场还将进一步扩大。

 就目前的市场状况来看，中国的太阳能产品市场在未来几年内不太可能出现爆发式增长，而工程应用市场仍会稳步增长，并且会趋向于区域采暖空调技术应用。此外，太阳能热利用技术在工农业领域发展也会受到越来越多的关注。