Canada Solar Thermal Collectors Market Overview, 2031

Market Insights on Canada Solar Thermal Collectors Market

• According to the research report, "Canada Solar Thermal Collectors Market Overview, 2031," published by Bonafide Research, the Canada Solar Thermal Collectors market is anticipated to add USD 50.79 Million by 2026–31.
• Canada's solar thermal sector has experienced a notable realignment over the past five years, with solar air heating emerging as the cornerstone of the industry. According to the most recent market survey commissioned by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), 90% of newly installed collector area in 2024 was glazed and unglazed air collectors, with the record year of 2023 seeing 28,054 m² of new solar air collector installations (1.96 MW). The province of Quebec drove much of this momentum through favourable funding conditions, though the market volume of air heating declined 7% compared to 2023 while still significantly outpacing 2022 levels. The broader Canadian market across all applications contracted 17% in 2024, largely due to a severe 63% decline in solar pool heating, a segment that major distributors did not fully report in the survey.
• The technological identity of Canada's solar thermal industry is unique on the global stage. Canada ranks second worldwide in total unglazed air collector capacity and third in total air collector capacity, reflecting a specialization that dates back to the technology's original development in the country. The Solar Ready Guidelines, developed by the Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA) in partnership with NRCan and the Truss Plate Institute of Canada, established technical specifications ensuring solar-ready homes have suitable roof area, conduit from roof to mechanical room, and appropriate plumbing connections. The CSA F379:25 standard, published in September 2025, sets performance, durability, and safety requirements for integrated and custom solar domestic hot water systems with liquid-to-liquid heat transfer.
• Federal policy has created a differentiated incentive landscape. The Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit (CT ITC) provides a refundable tax credit of up to 30% on capital costs for eligible clean technology property acquired and made available for use between March 28, 2023, and December 31, 2034. However, solar water heaters were not explicitly mentioned as an eligible technology within the national Greener Homes Grant programme, and with the national energy policy focus directed toward PV and heat pumps, market participants do not expect improvement in residential solar water heating demand. Two companies have already ceased sales activities for residential solar thermal systems, with one focusing exclusively on solar pool heating and the other on export markets.

Competitive Landscape of Canada Solar Thermal Collectors Market

• Rackam, headquartered in Sherbrooke, Quebec, operates as an international manufacturer and developer of solar thermal collectors with a special focus on industrial heating and cooling processes, helping industries worldwide achieve clean and efficient energy savings. The company has publicly urged the newly elected government to maintain the Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit, emphasizing that improving the Return on Investment for renewable energy projects offers a powerful incentive for technologies that displace fossil fuel use. Rackam's solar thermal systems are positioned as strategic assets for industrial clients seeking to reduce reliance on fossil fuels for process heat.
• SolarSteam Inc., a Calgary-based cleantech venture founded in 2017, has emerged as a pioneering force in high-temperature industrial solar thermal applications. The company delivers heat up to approximately 320°C using lightweight, enclosed parabolic-trough collectors that seal mirrors inside a transparent enclosure to eliminate wind loading, hail damage, and soiling. Its DfMSA™ strategy allows each 50 kWt "Obelix™" module to be pre-assembled into standard shipping containers for rapid on-site installation, reducing capital costs and deployment timelines. SolarSteam closed a CA$8 million Seed II round in September 2025, bringing total seed funding to CA$8 million, led by Capella Partners' new Energy Infrastructure fund Levelized Capital with participation from BSB Manufacturing, E8 Angels, and European super angels.
• The company's first-of-a-kind commercial project, supported by $2.8 million from Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA), is deploying a 1.5 MWth solar thermal system at Base Element Energy's oil emulsion treatment facility in Cynthia, Alberta. This project integrates SolarSteam's collectors with Sunamp's Phase Change Material thermal energy storage in three phases to heat supply water and reduce dependence on natural gas boilers. SolarSteam is also advancing a second FOAK project, piloting solar thermal cooling for data centres, and laying the groundwork for a Series A in 2026. Natural Resources Canada has documented a separate project with KAP Minerals to demonstrate Canada's first CSP system providing process heat to an industrial agricultural facility producing mineral-based soil amendments.
• Your Solar Home Inc., based in Aurora, Ontario, designs and manufactures solar thermal air collectors for residential, commercial, and scientific applications, with its primary product line branded as SolarSheat. Thermo Dynamics Ltd., operating from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia since 1981, has been engaged in the research, development, manufacturing, and installation of solar thermal systems. The competitive landscape reflects a market where domestic manufacturers have pivoted toward air collectors and industrial concentrating solutions, with flat plate and vacuum tube collector suppliers facing continued demand decline and market withdrawals.
• Investment in Canada's solar thermal sector has been anchored by provincial and federal funding programs. The Canora Community League in Edmonton received $679,513 from the federal government for building improvements including geothermal heating and solar panels. Emissions Reduction Alberta provided $2.8 million for the SolarSteam project, which carries a total project value of $6.18 million. The Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program (CGHAP), relaunched in September 2025, adopts a direct-installation model focused on lower-income households, though its applicability to solar thermal systems remains to be clarified. Industry surveys indicate that a clear majority of solar thermal companies agree green building rating programmes such as LEED have a positive impact on sales, and that subsidized large solar process heat projects drive demand.

Market Dynamics

Driver: Solar Air Heating Leadership and Industrial Decarbonization Canada's globally recognized expertise in solar air heating provides a durable foundation for market growth, with 90% of newly installed collector area in 2024 consisting of glazed and unglazed air collectors. Lucio Mesquita, Senior Research Engineer at CanmetENERGY Ottawa/Natural Resources Canada, confirmed that solar air heating represents the cornerstone of Canada's solar thermal market with strong potential for continued growth, while also noting growing interest in concentrating solar heat solutions for industrial applications. The industrial sector accounts for approximately 80% of all energy used by Canadian industry, with 30% to 40% of that energy typically lost, creating a compelling efficiency case for solar thermal integration.

Challenge: Exclusion from National Residential Incentives and PV Competition Solar water heaters are not explicitly mentioned as eligible technologies within the national Greener Homes Grant programme, leaving residential solar thermal without federal subsidy support while national energy policy focuses on PV and heat pumps. This policy gap has contributed to continued demand decline and market withdrawals by equipment suppliers, with two companies ceasing residential solar thermal sales activities. The solar pool heating segment contracted 63% in 2024, reflecting weakened consumer spending and incomplete reporting by major distributors who did not deliver figures in the survey.



Trend: Concentrating Solar for Industrial Process Heat and PVT Emergence Concentrating solar thermal for industrial applications is entering early-stage market development, anchored by SolarSteam's enclosed parabolic trough technology and supported by $2.8 million from Emissions Reduction Alberta. Sales of PVT collectors rose sharply in 2024, particularly uncovered PVT collectors serving as heat sources for heat pumps, with an estimated 238 m² sold mainly for emblematic projects supported by local authorities or state governments. The convergence of concentrating solar collectors and PVT systems signals a technological diversification beyond traditional air and water heating applications.

Segment Analysis

Canada Solar Thermal Collectors Market by Type
• Concentrating collectors in Canada are at an early stage of market development, with no new systems reported in 2024 according to the NRCan survey. The landscape shifted in mid-February 2025 when SolarSteam received a CAD 2.8 million grant from the Government of Alberta to build the first demonstration project using its enclosed parabolic trough technology for water treatment at a factory in Alberta. Once completed, this plant will be one of the few major concentrating collector plants in Canada, with the company's 1.5 MWth commercial project at Base Element Energy's Cynthia, Alberta facility integrating Sunamp's thermal energy storage and targeting high-temperature industrial process heat up to approximately 320°C.
• Non-concentrating collectors dominate the Canadian market by volume, with solar air heating representing the cornerstone application at 90% of newly installed collector area in 2024. Canada ranks second globally in total unglazed air collector capacity and third in total air collector capacity, reflecting a specialization that dates back to the technology's original development in the country. Your Solar Home Inc. manufactures SolarSheat air collectors for residential, commercial, and scientific applications from its Aurora, Ontario facility, while Thermo Dynamics Ltd. of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia has been manufacturing solar thermal systems since 1981. The residential solar water heating segment continues to decline, with market participants attributing the contraction to the absence of explicit eligibility for solar water heaters within the Greener Homes Grant programme and the national policy focus on PV and heat pumps.

Canada Solar Thermal Collectors Market by Application
• Water heating applications face a challenging policy environment, with solar water heaters not explicitly mentioned as eligible technologies within the national Greener Homes Grant programme. Demand has continued to decline as a result, and market participants do not expect improvement given the clear focus of national energy policy on PV and heat pumps. The CSA F379:25 standard, published in September 2025, sets performance, durability, and safety requirements for integrated and custom solar domestic hot water systems with liquid-to-liquid heat transfer, superseding the previous CAN/CSA-F379.1-09 standard. Two companies have already ceased sales activities for residential solar thermal systems, with one now focusing only on solar pool heating and the other on export markets.
• Space heating and cooling applications are anchored by solar air heating, which represented 90% of newly installed collector area in 2024. The record year of 2023 saw 28,054 m² of new solar air collector installations, with 2024 volumes declining 7% but still significantly outpacing 2022 levels. Your Solar Home Inc. designs and manufactures solar thermal air collectors for residential, commercial, and scientific applications, with its SolarSheat product line serving space heating and ventilation preheating needs. The Solar Ready Guidelines developed by CanSIA, NRCan, and the Truss Plate Institute of Canada ensure that solar-ready homes have suitable roof area, conduit from roof to mechanical room, and appropriate plumbing connections for solar thermal installations.
• Industrial process heat represents the most significant emerging opportunity, with concentrating solar solutions entering early-stage market development. SolarSteam's enclosed parabolic trough collectors deliver high-temperature industrial heat up to approximately 320°C, with the company's first-of-a-kind 1.5 MWth commercial project supported by $2.8 million from Emissions Reduction Alberta at Base Element Energy's Cynthia, Alberta facility. Natural Resources Canada has documented a project with KAP Minerals to demonstrate Canada's first CSP system providing process heat to an industrial agricultural facility producing mineral-based soil amendments. Industrial Energy Systems consume approximately 80% of all energy used by the Canadian industrial sector, with 30% to 40% of that energy typically lost, creating a substantial addressable market for solar thermal integration.
• Swimming pool heating experienced a severe 63% decline in 2024, contributing significantly to the overall 17% contraction of the Canadian solar thermal market. The segment's downturn reflects both weakened consumer spending and incomplete reporting by major distributors who did not deliver figures in the annual NRCan survey. One company has pivoted to focus exclusively on solar pool heating, suggesting that a specialized niche may persist despite the broader segment contraction. Solar pool heating uses simple unglazed absorbers and is generally considered the most cost-competitive of solar energy applications, though the Canadian market's decline indicates that even favourable economics have not insulated the segment from broader economic pressures.
• District heating applications remain virtually absent from the Canadian solar thermal landscape, with no significant installations documented in the NRCan market survey. The National Building Code of Canada's 2025 changes introduced three compliance pathways for solar heat gain requirements, but these provisions focus on fenestration and building envelope performance rather than district-scale thermal networks. The absence of district heating infrastructure limits the addressable market for large-scale solar thermal deployment, though the technology's potential in colder Canadian climates remains theoretically significant.
• Power generation through concentrating solar thermal has no operational installations in Canada, with the technology remaining at the demonstration stage. The SolarSteam project in Alberta represents the closest approximation, deploying enclosed parabolic trough collectors for industrial process heat rather than electricity generation. The National Building Code's 2025 provisions for solar heat gain coefficient requirements in fenestration reflect a regulatory environment focused on building-integrated applications rather than utility-scale power generation.
• Other applications including desalination and agricultural drying remain at research and pilot stages in Canada. The SolarSteam project with KAP Minerals aims to demonstrate a CSP system providing process heat to an industrial agricultural facility producing mineral-based soil amendments, representing Canada's first such application. The broader absence of commercial deployment in desalination and drying applications reflects the early-stage nature of these segments within the Canadian market.

Canada Solar Thermal Collectors Market by End-User
• Commercial end-users have shown measured adoption of solar thermal technologies, particularly in applications where green building rating programmes such as LEED influence design decisions. Industry survey results indicate that a clear majority of solar thermal companies agree green building rating programmes have a positive impact on sales, and that subsidized large solar process heat projects drive demand. The Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit provides a 30% refundable credit on capital costs for eligible clean technology property, improving the Return on Investment for commercial-scale solar thermal installations and positioning the incentive as a strategic tool for commercial decarbonization.
• Residential end-users face the most challenging policy environment, with solar water heaters not explicitly mentioned as eligible technologies within the national Greener Homes Grant programme. The Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program, relaunched in September 2025, adopts a direct-installation model focused on lower-income households, though its applicability to solar thermal systems remains to be clarified. Two companies have ceased residential solar thermal sales activities, with one focusing exclusively on solar pool heating and the other on export markets. The residential segment's decline reflects a policy gap where national energy priorities favour PV and heat pumps over solar thermal solutions.
• Industrial end-users represent the most promising growth segment, with SolarSteam's CA$8 million Seed II funding round and $2.8 million Emissions Reduction Alberta grant supporting the deployment of a 1.5 MWth commercial solar thermal project at Base Element Energy's oil emulsion treatment facility in Cynthia, Alberta. The company's Energy-as-a-Service model enables industrial clients to decarbonize without upfront capital expenditure, removing a significant adoption barrier. The Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit's 30% refundable rate for property placed in service by the end of 2033 provides a durable financial incentive for industrial-scale solar thermal investment.
• Utility end-users have minimal engagement with solar thermal technologies in Canada, with no concentrating solar power plants in operation and no documented district heating networks powered by solar thermal. The National Building Code's 2025 changes introduced three compliance pathways for solar heat gain requirements, but these provisions address building envelope performance rather than utility-scale generation. The absence of utility-scale solar thermal deployment reflects the technology's current positioning as a distributed industrial and commercial solution rather than a centralized power generation asset.


Considered in this report
• Historic Year: 2020
• Base year: 2025
• Estimated year: 2026
• Forecast year: 2031

Aspects covered in this report
• Solar Thermal Collectors Market with its value and forecast along with its segments
• Various drivers and challenges
• On-going trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

By Type
• Concentrating
• Non-Concentrating

By Application
• Water Heating
• Space Heating & Cooling
• Industrial Process Heat
• Swimming Pool Heating
• District Heating
• Power Generation
• Other Applications(Desalination, Agricultural/Drying applications)

By End-User
• Commercial
• Residential
• Industrial
• Utility