By Emma Graham-Harrison
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top maker of solar water heaters, Himin Solar Energy Group, expects earnings to grow 25 percent to around 2.5 billion yuan ($333.2 million) this year, but said raw material costs and a lack of government support are denting profits.
The solar heaters are the only form of renewable energy competitive in China without any subsidies, and have edged out gas and electric-powered heaters to take around 20 percent of the urban market, Himin's President Huang Ming, told the Reuters Global Environment Summit on Wednesday.
China already accounts for over three-quarters of world output of the systems which use the sun's energy to heat water for daily use, rather than to generate electricity as better known photovoltaic (PV) cells do.
Beijing has pledged to get 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 and aims to more than triple the amount of installed solar water heating capacity by the same date, to reach 300 million square meters, from just 80 million in 2005.
Production this year is up 25 percent, and could continue to grow at that rate for the next five years, with more backing from Beijing, Huang said.
"The market is still growing and I think the government is going to bring out more (supportive) policies," he said.
But the company founder, who began his career as an oil engineer before deciding renewables had more future, said the government is not yet doing enough, particularly in cities.
It is expensive and challenging to install the heaters on the higher buildings now springing up in wealthier areas, and some developers are also resisting buying the systems of roof-top pipes and tanks on aesthetic grounds, he added. Continued...
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