Annual Solar Thermal Collector Manufacturers Survey and Annual Photovoltaic Module/Cell Manufacturers Survey

FORM EIA-63A

ANNUAL SOLAR THERMAL COLLECTOR/REFLECTOR SHIPMENTS REPORT

GENERAL INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS

I. Purpose

Form EIA-63A is designed to provide the data necessary for the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), a part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), to carry out its responsibilities for tracking collector/reflector shipments in the solar thermal industry and reporting for providing information concerning the size and status of the industry. The data collected will be published in the Renewable Energy Annual and also be available through EIA's Internet site at http://www.eia.gov/fuelrenewable.html.

II. Who Should Respond to This Survey

This report is mandatory and required pursuant to the authority granted to the Department of Energy (DOE) by the Federal Energy Information Administration Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-275). Form EIA-63A is to be submitted by companies (whether U.S.- or foreign-based) that operate under the laws and regulations pertaining to the conduct of commerce within the United States and its territories and possessions and that engage in solar thermal-related activities within the United States, its territories, and possessions. These activities include solar thermal collector/reflector manufacturing, shipping, importing, and/or exporting. Companies involved in solar thermal-related activities during the reporting year can be classified in any of the following categories: (1) manufacturer; (2) brand name manufacturer (private label owner); (3) subsidiary or business unit of overseas manufacturer; (4) U.S. registered publicly traded overseas manufacturer; (5) importer; and (6) exporter.

III. Where to Submit Completed Forms

Submit your data electronically using EIA’s Internet Data Collection (IDC) system. IDC User’s Manual is available at http://www.eia.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/forms.html.

If you need an alternate means of filing your response or have questions about the data requested on Form EIA-63A, please contact the Survey Manager, Peter Wong at [email protected] or (202) 586-7574.

Please retain a completed copy of this form for your files.

IV. When to Submit Completed Forms

The reporting year is from January 1 through December 31 each year. Submit the completed Form EIA-63A to the EIA through the IDC system by April 30, following the end of the calendar year.

V. Sanctions

The timely submission of Form EIA-63A by those required to report is mandatory under Section 13(b) of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (FEAA) (Public Law 93-275), as amended. Failure to respond may result in a penalty of not more than $2,750 per day for each civil violation, or a fine of not more than $5,000 per day for each criminal violation. The government may bring a civil action to prohibit reporting violations, which may result in a temporary restraining order or a preliminary or permanent injunction without bond. In such civil action, the court may also issue mandatory injunctions commanding any person to comply with these reporting requirements. Title 18 U.S.C. 1001 makes it a criminal offense for any person knowingly and willingly to make to any Agency or Department of the United States any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements as to any matter within its jurisdiction.

VI. Provisions Regarding Confidentiality of Information

The information reported on this form will be protected and not disclosed to the public to the extent that it satisfies the criteria for exemption under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. §552, the Department of Energy regulations, 10 C.F.R. §1004.11, implementing the FOIA, and the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. §1905.

The Federal Energy Administration Act requires the EIA to provide company-specific data to other Federal agencies when requested for official use. The information reported on this form may also be made available, upon request, to another component of the Department of Energy (DOE); to any Committee of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, or other Federal agencies authorized by law to receive such information. A court of competent jurisdiction may obtain this information in response to an order. The information may be used for any nonstatistical purposes such as administrative, regulatory, law enforcement, or adjudicatory purposes.

Disclosure limitation procedures are applied to the statistical data published from Form EIA-63A survey information on the dollar value of shipments and complete systems to ensure that the risk of disclosure of identifiable information is very small.

For all other data published from the Form EIA-63A, disclosure limitation procedures are not applied. Thus, there may be some statistics that are based on data from fewer than three respondents, or that are dominated by data from one or two large respondents. In these cases, it may be possible for a knowledgeable person to estimate the information reported by a specific respondent.

VII. Filing Forms with Federal Government and Estimated Reporting Burden

Respondents are not required to file or reply to any Federal collection of information unless it has a valid OMB control number. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 4.5 hours per response including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Statistics and Methods Group, EI-70, 1000 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20585-0670, and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, D.C. 20503.

SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS

For the purpose of this report, solar thermal collectors are defined as devices designed to receive solar radiation and convert it to thermal energy. The main types of solar thermal collector technologies include concentrators, compact linear fresnel reflectors, heliostats, parabolic dishes, and parabolic troughs. Please see the EIA glossary at http://www.eia.gov/glossary/index.html for additional information.

SCHEDULE 1: IDENTIFICATION

In Schedule 1, please provide the respondent is required to provide and verify the following information. Please contactContact the survey manager listed in Section III on page 1 of the instructions if any of this information needs to be updated.

Part A: Reporting entity name, reporting entity URL, reporting entity street address, reporting entity suite address, reporting entity city, reporting entity state, reporting entity zip code, reporting entity official contact name, reporting entity official title, reporting entity official phone number, reporting entity official fax number, and reporting entity official e-mail address.

Part B: Form preparer name, form preparer title, form preparer company URL, form preparer street address, form preparer suite address, form preparer city, form preparer state, form preparer zip code, form preparer phone number, form preparer fax number, and form preparer e-mail address.

Part C: Entity supervisor name, entity supervisor title, entity supervisor company URL, entity supervisor street address, entity supervisor suite address, entity supervisor city, entity supervisor zip code, entity supervisor phone number, entity supervisor fax number, and entity supervisor e-mail address.

Part D: Parent company name, parent company official contact name, parent company URL, parent company street address, parent company suite address, parent company city, parent company state, parent company zip code, country (if outside U.S.), parent company international phone number, parent company official contact phone number, parent company official contact fax number, and parent company official e-mail address.

Part E: Parent contact name, parent contact title, parent contact company URL, parent contact street address, parent contact suite address, parent contact city, parent contact state, parent contact zip code, country (if outside U.S.), parent contact international phone number, parent contact phone number, parent contact fax number, and parent contact e-mail address.

SCHEDULE 2: COMPANY STATUS (Respondent Business Type)

Select the business activities that best describe the responding company’s involvement in solar thermal-related activities. The responding company may be operated as multiple business types. (See glossary entries in the glossary section). If yourIn cases where your company either manufactures Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) brands for private label owners or outsources the manufacturing of solar panels to an OEM that manufactures for you as a private label owner, provide contact information for the other company.

SCHEDULE 3: INDUSTRY STATUS

Part A: (a-h) Report only on solar-related activities.

Part B: (a-d) Check the appropriate boxes, if you are planning to introduce a new solar-related product. A new solar-related product is differentiated from a modified existing product if the "new" product is different enough to warrant a new model number and requires retesting or recertification under existing industry standards.

Part C: Enter the total number of full-time equivalent employees engaged in solar-related activities during the reporting year. (See glossary entry for "Full-time equivalent employee".)

Part D: (a-d) Check the appropriate boxes. "Solar-related activities" includes all activities listed in Schedule 3 Part A.

SCHEDULE 4: SOLAR THERMAL COLLECTOR/REFLECTOR SHIPMENTS STATUS

If you are a contracting manufacturer, you are required to provide information about the solar thermal collector/reflectors you manufacture. Please do not include the shipments for brand name manufacturers as this will cause duplication in reporting.

4.A.a (Product Available): (1-5) For each type of solar thermal collector/reflector, enter the square footage in inventory at the beginning of the reporting year, manufactured during the reporting year, imported during the reporting year, purchased from U.S. OEM (original equipment manufacturers), and the cumulative total available for shipment. The cumulative total should be the sum of (1-4). The total column on the right-hand side of the form should contain the total square footage for all collector/reflector types in a given row.

4.A.b (Shipments): (1-4) For each type of solar thermal collector/reflector, enter the square footage and number of solar collector/reflector systems shipped within the U.S., excluding sales for resale, shipped to U.S. OEMs for resale, exported shipments, and the total shipments. Total shipments should be the sum of (1-3). The total column on the right-hand side of the form should contain the total square footage and total number of systems for all collector/reflector types in a given row.

4.A.c (Revenue): (1-3) Enter the total value received for the total collector/reflector shipments in Schedule 4.A.b.4 by type. The value reported should be the total value received for collectors/reflectors only, your company’s net billing price for complete solar thermal systems, freight-on-board factory, including charges for cooperative advertising and warranties. Do not include excise taxes, freight and/or transportation charges. Report values to the nearest dollar. The total column on the right-hand side of the form should contain the total revenues associated with the total square footage and total number of systems for all collector/reflector types in a given row. Verify that the average value is equal to the dollar value of the total shipments divided by the quantity of total shipments (Schedule 4.A.c.1 divided by Schedule 4.A.b.4).

4.A.d (Inventory): (1) For each type of solar thermal collector/reflector, enter the square footage of collectors/reflectors that remain in inventory at the end of the reporting year. These values should be equal to the difference between Schedule 4.A.a.5 and Schedule 4.A.b.4. The total column on the right-hand side of the form should contain the total square footage for all collector/reflector types in a given row.

4.A.e (Efficiency): (1) For each type of solar thermal collector/reflector, enter the average thermal performance rating (energy output of the solar collector/reflector under standard conditions) in Btu per square foot per day (Btu/ft²/day).

SCHEDULE 5: ORIGIN OF SOLAR THERMAL COLLECTORS/REFLECTORS

Part A: List the country or countries from which solar thermal collectors/reflectors reported in Schedule 4.A.a.3 were imported. Begin by reporting the country name for each manufacturer in column (a). In column (b) enter the name of the manufacturer that produced the imported collectors/reflectors. For each type of solar thermal collector/reflector, enter the square footage of solar thermal collectors/reflectors imported during the reporting year. The values in the total row should equal the values from Schedule 4.A.a.3. The total column on the right-hand side of the form should contain the total square footage for all collector/reflector types in a given row.

Part B: List the state(s) in which solar thermal collectors/reflectors reported in Schedule 4.A.a.2 were manufactured. Begin by reporting the state for each manufacturer in column (a). In column (b) enter the name of the manufacturer that produced the collectors/reflectors. For each type of solar thermal collector/reflector, enter the square footage of solar thermal collectors/reflectors manufactured during the reporting year. The values in the total row should equal the values from Schedule 4.A.a.2. The total column on the right-hand side of the form should contain the total square footage for all collector/reflector types in a given row.

SCHEDULE 6: DESTINATION OF SOLAR THERMAL COLLECTORS/REFLECTORS

Part A: List the country or countries to which solar thermal collectors/reflectors reported in Schedule 4.A.b.3 were exported. For each type of solar thermal collector/reflector, enter both the square footage and number of solar thermal collector/reflector systems exported during the reporting year. The values in the total row should equal the values from Schedule 4.A.b.3. The total column on the right-hand side of the form should contain the total square footage and total number of systems for all collector/reflector types in a given row.

Part B: Please complete 6.B. for each and every state collectors/reflector are shipped to within the United States. You may want to make copies of the blank 6.B. page before beginning this section.

Begin by reporting the final destination of the shipments by entering the two letter U.S. Postal Service Abbreviation of the destination state/territory in the box provided above the table.

U.S. Shipments (sales within U.S. excluding sales for resale) by State, Sector, and End Use: Provide for each type of solar thermal collector/reflector both the square footage and number of solar thermal collector/reflector systems shipped to each sector by end use. (See sector and end-use category definitions below.) The values in the total row should equal the values from Schedule 4.A.b.1. The total column on the right-hand side of the form should contain the total square footage and total number of systems for all collector/reflector types in a given row.

The sector categories in Schedule 6.B.a are:

Residential: Solar applications related to any building used for residential occupancy that has a system for heating, cooling, or both.

Commercial: Solar applications for use in businesses where services (rather than products) are provided, such as wholesale and retail trade or health and educational services.

Industrial: Solar applications for use in businesses where products (rather than services) are provided, such as the manufacture and processing of goods and basic materials.

Electric Power: Shipments of solar thermal collectors to electric power sector for use in power generation or for experimental applications (includes gas and electric utilities). This includes central stations, decentralized systems or experimental applications.

The end-use categories in Schedule 6.B.b are:

Hot Water Only: U.S. shipments of solar thermal collectors used only for water heating.

Pool Heating Only: U.S. shipments of solar thermal collectors used only for swimming pool heating.

Space Heating/Cooling Only: U.S. shipments of solar thermal collectors used only for space heating and/or for space cooling (air conditioning).

Process Heating: U.S. shipments of solar thermal collectors used for industrial process heating.

Multiple Uses (1-4 above): U.S. shipments of solar thermal collectors used for any combination of end uses 1-4.

Electricity Generation: U.S. shipments of solar thermal collectors such as concentrators, compact linear fresnel reflectors, heliostats, parabolic dishes, and parabolic troughs used as steam generators to power electric generators.

Total U.S. shipments, sector by end use: The sum of all end use collectors in the total row should equal the sum of values for end use categories (1)-(6).

The values in the Total row should equal values from Schedule 4.A.b.1., as well as the sum of all sector totals in Schedule 6.B.a.

SCHEDULE 7: COMMENTS

Part A: Please provide any explanations and comments for this report. For clarification purposes, please identify schedule, part, line number, and column (if applicable) for each entry.

GLOSSARY

Air Collector: A medium-temperature collector used predominantly in space heating, utilizing pumped air as the heat-transfer medium.

Brand Name Manufacturer (Private Label Owner): A “private labeler” is the owner of a brand or trademark on the label of a manufactured product which bears a private label. A product is considered to “bear a private label” if the product or its container is labeled with the brand or trademark of a person other than the manufacturer and the manufacturer’s brand or trademark is not on the product or container. In other words, a brand name manufacturer is a company that sells manufactured products under its name but does not produce them.

Commercial Sector: An energy-consuming sector that consists of service-providing facilities and equipment of: businesses; Federal, State, and local governments; and other private and public organizations, such as religious, social, or fraternal groups. The commercial sector includes institutional living quarters. It also includes sewage treatment facilities. Common uses of energy associated with this sector include space heating, water heating, air conditioning, lighting, refrigeration, cooking, and running a wide variety of other equipment. Note: This sector includes generators that produce electricity and/or useful thermal output primarily to support the activities of the above-mentioned commercial establishments.

Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR): A type of linear concentrator that is similar to parabolic trough collector, but uses flat or slightly curved mirrors mounted on trackers on the ground and is configured to reflect sunlight onto a receiver tube positioned above these mirrors. Instead of using a parabolic shaped mirror, CLFR is divided into ten flat mirrors that each rotate to follow the sun.

Concentrator: A reflective or refractive device that focuses incident insolation onto an area smaller than the reflective or refractive surface, resulting in increased insolation at the point of focus.

Electric Power Sector: An energy-consuming sector that consists of electricity only and combined heat and power (CHP) plants whose primary business is to sell electricity, or electricity and heat, to the public – i.e., North American Industry Classification System code 22.

Evacuated-tube Collector: A collector in which solar thermal heat is captured by use of a collector fluid that flows through an absorber tube contained inside an evacuated glass tube.

Export (renewable equipment): A shipment of renewable equipment sent from the United States and any of its territories to a foreign country.

Flat Plate Pumped: A medium-temperature solar thermal collector that typically consists of a metal frame, glazing, absorbers (usually metal), and insulation and that uses a pumped liquid as the heat-transfer medium: predominant use is in water-heating applications.

Full-time Equivalent Employee (FTE): A ratio that represents the number of hours that an employee works, on solar-related activities, to 40 hours. Full-time employment is generally considered to be forty hours a week. An FTE is any combination of workers that combines to forty hours per week and does not necessarily equate to headcount. For example, two, half-time (twenty hours per week) workers together amount to one FTE.

Heliostat Field Collector: A type of concentrator that uses flat, sun-tracking mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that collect the solar energy and convert it to heat at the top of a tower.

High-temperature Collector: A solar thermal collector designed to operate at a temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

Import (renewable equipment): A shipment of renewable equipment sent into the United States and any of its territories from foreign countries.

Industrial Sector: An energy-consuming sector that consists of all facilities and equipment used for producing, processing, or assembling goods. The industrial sector encompasses the following types of activity: manufacturing (NAICS codes 31-33); agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (NAICS code 11); mining, including oil and gas extraction (NAICS code 21); and construction (NAICS code 23). Overall energy use in this sector is largely for process heat and cooling and powering machinery, with lesser amounts used for facility heating, air conditioning, and lighting. Fossil fuels are also used as raw material inputs to manufactured products. Note: This sector includes generators that produce electricity and/or useful thermal output primarily to support the above-mentioned industrial activities.

Integral Collector Storage (ICS): A solar thermal collector in which incident solar radiation is absorbed directly by the storage medium.

Liquid Collector: A medium-temperature solar thermal collector, employed predominantly in water heating, which uses pumped liquid as the heat-transfer medium.

Low Temperature Collector: Metallic or nonmetallic collectors that generally operate at temperatures below 110 degrees Fahrenheit and use pumped liquid or air as the heat transfer medium. They usually contain no glazing and no insulation, and they are often made of plastic or rubber, although some are made of metal.

Manufacturer: An entity in the business of manufacturing.

Medium-temperature Collector: A collector designed to operate in the temperature range of 140 degrees to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, but that can also operate at a temperature as low as 110 degrees Fahrenheit. The collector typically consists of a metal frame, metal absorption panels with integral flow channels (attached tubing for liquid collectors or integral ducting for air collectors), and glazing and insulation on the sides and back.

Parabolic Dish: A high-temperature (above 180 degrees Fahrenheit) solar thermal concentrator, generally bowl-shaped, with two-axis tracking.

Parabolic Dish Reflector: A type of concentrator that uses circular conical surface (dish-shaped) mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that collect the solar energy and convert it to heat. The dish is mounted on a structure that tracks the sun continuously throughout the day to reflect the highest percentage of sunlight possible onto the thermal receiver.

Parabolic Trough: A high temperature (above 180 degrees Fahrenheit) solar thermal concentrator with the capacity for tracking the sun using one axis of rotation.

Parabolic Trough Collector: A type of linear concentrator that uses long rectangular, curved (U-shaped) mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that collect the solar energy and convert it to heat. The receiver tube is positioned along the focal line of each parabola-shaped reflector.

Residential Sector: An energy-consuming sector that consists of living quarters for private households. Common uses of energy associated with this sector include space heating, water heating, air conditioning, lighting, refrigeration, cooking, and running a variety of other appliances. The residential sector excludes institutional living quarters. Note: Various EIA programs differ in sectoral coverage.

Retrofit: An upgrade to an existing system. Retrofitting refers to the replacement of components of a system, but not the replacement of the entire system.

Solar Thermal Collector: A device designed to receive solar radiation and convert it to thermal energy. Normally, a solar thermal collector includes a frame, glazing, and an absorber, together with appropriate insulation. The heat collected by the solar collector may be used immediately or stored for later use. Solar collectors are used for space heating; domestic hot water heating; and heating swimming pools, hot tubs, or spas.

Solar Thermal Collector Performance Rating: An analytically derived set of number representing the characteristic all-day energy output of the solar collector under standard rating conditions measures in Btu per square foot per day (Btu/ft2 day).

Subsidiary or Business Unit of Overseas Manufacturer: An entity directly or indirectly controlled by a manufacturer that is headquartered overseas (parent company) or the logical segment of an overseas manufacturer (such as accounting, production, or marketing that representing a specific business function).

Thermosiphon system: A solar collector system for water heating in which circulation of the collection fluid through the storage loop is provided solely by the temperature and density difference between the hot and cold fluids.

Transportation Sector: An energy-consuming sector that consists of all vehicles whose primary purpose is transporting people and/or goods from one physical location to another. Included are automobiles; trucks; buses; motorcycles; trains, subways, and other rail vehicles; aircraft; and ships, barges, and other waterborne vehicles. Vehicles whose primary purpose is not transportation (e.g., construction cranes and bulldozers, farming vehicles, and warehouse tractors and forklifts) are classified in the sector of their primary use. Note: Various EIA programs differ in sectoral coverage.

U.S. Registered Publicly Traded Overseas Manufacturer: A manufacturer that is headquartered overseas but whose stock is publicly traded on a U.S. stock exchange.

9