All technologies operating through Solar heating route come under this category. These include Non-grid solar thermal technologies include water heating systems, solar cookers, solar drying applications and solar thermal building designs. These technologies on the other hand help conserve energy in heating and cooling applications, especially in urban and semi-urban environment.

One of India’s first and among the largest in the world, the 140 MW Integrated Solar Combined Cycle (ISCC) with a solar thermal component of 35 MW Power project at Mathania near Jodhpur in Rajasthan is under execution. The solar thermal component is based on the parabolic trough collector technology. The combined cycle power plant of 105 MW capacity with supplementary firing during non-sunny hours will be run on naphtha/ natural gas

Solar water heaters, solar cookers and solar dryers for meeting heat energy requirements of different applications in the domestic, commercial, and industrial sectors are priority areas. Soft loans are available for promotion of these applications. Over 597,000 sq m of solar water heating collectors, which could heat more than 25 million litres of water to a temperature of 60–70 oC every day, have so far been installed in the country. Hot water applications are in the sectors of:

Individual residential and apartment buildings

Restaurants and canteens

Guest houses, lodges, hotels and hostels

Hospitals and nursing homes

Boiler feed water for commercial and industrial applications

Process feed water for paint industry, electroplating, galvanising industry, etc

Bottling plants and distilleries for syrup making, bottle cleanings, etc

Pharmaceutical, chemical and fertilizer industries

The textile industry

The food processing industry