Study of Solar Thermal Energy in the Industrial Sector : Case on multinational companies in India

Sammanfattning: Solar thermal technology is a rapidly evolving technology that still has a smaller market share than other green technologies. Therefore, this study aims to recognize barriers and drivers for the use of solar thermal technologies in the industrial sector. A literature review summarized the existing literature problems concerning drivers and barriers for the use of solar thermal technology in the industrial sector. To establish drivers and barriers to the use of solar thermal technology in the industrial sector and to supplement the literature review, a cross-sectional analysis was carried out in this study. Case studies have been performed in India, where two companies have undergone pilot testing of solar thermal systems in their manufacturing processes, and one has an option to incorporate solar thermal systems. Purposeful sampling was used to select the companies for the interviews, while convenience sampling and the snowball sampling were used to pick interview participants, further in this research six interviews was conducted from 4 different companies in the industrial sector. The findings were presented with thematic analysis. Drivers and Barriers have been divided into themes. Namely, Drivers include futuristic technology and Barriers include high costs, infrastructure requirements, more efficient and cheaper alternatives and lack of institutional support. Futuristic technology theme explains why this technology is beneficial for industrial adoption in the Indian market. High-cost theme explains why this technology is expensive over other renewable sources. Infrastructure requirements theme explains installation barriers influencing the adoption of solar thermal systems in the industrial process. Efficient and cheaper alternatives theme explains competitors influencing the adoption of solar thermal energy in the industrial sector. Lack of institutional support theme explains government and multinational companies that are influencing the adoption of solar thermal energy in the industrial sector. Aspects covered by the theme, high costs were most frequently mentioned among the respondents, suggesting that barriers play a significant role in implementing solar thermal systems. In contrast, aspects covered by the themes lack institutional support, infrastructure requirements, and more efficient and cheaper alternatives have not been addressed in the literature. Finally, the study concluded that the adoption of solar thermal energy in the Industrial Sector faces various barriers and drivers that must be investigated before the implementation.