In a proposed directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources from the European Union [1], an ambitious target of 20% contribution form renewable energy is set. The current contribution of solar thermal towards the total renewable energy supply is only 32 PJ (2006 figures). This is less than 1% of the total final energy use of renewable energy and only 0.1% of the 25.000 PJ final heat demand in the EU-27 [2]. This is still far from the potential that has been assessed by the European Solar Thermal Technology Platform (ESTTP) of 50% of the total heat demand [3,4].

For reaching the 20% target, a large growth in the use of renewable energy from the current 6% production of renewables is essential. Solar thermal can contribute to this growth, but it is essential that solar thermal heat production is included the national and European energy statistics in a proper way.