Good practice:

Development of the Solar Water Heater

In accordance with the local energy policies established by Martinique’s Multiannual Energy Programme (EPP), the territory sets ambitious targets for the development of solar water heaters:
- Reach 53% of renewable energy in 2023.
- 17,500 individual solar water heaters installed from 2017 to 2020 with public funding.
The objective of this good practice is to contribute to the deployment of solar water heaters in the territory and to structure the solar water heaters sales / installation / production chain in Martinique.
The final recipients of the program are Martinique households. However, grants are paid to installers.

Budget 2017-2020 for 26 000 CESI:
- UE (FEDER): 9 360 000,00€ (19,89%)
- CTM: 3 640 000,00€ (7,73%)
- EDF: 14 040 014,51€ (29,86%)
- Customers: 20 026 745,49€ (42,55%)
Total: 47 066 760,00€

In 2020, more than 60,000 homes in Martinique were equipped with solar water heaters (1 out of 3 homes) and 34,333 CESI have been installed between 2016 and 2020.
The target of 5,000 CESI installed per year has been far exceeded since 2018, with more than 8,000 installations per year. The system created favourable conditions for the deployment of CESI in the territory. The program then benefits the industry: 30 companies in charge of import and distribution, about 200 jobs.

The principal difficulty encountered with this aid system concerns the After-Sales Service, in particular:
- Control of installer facilities and practices
- Fight against fraudulent business practices.

This good practice is replicable in every region with adequate sunlight for solar water heating. In addition, this programme is based in part on the ERDF so it is interesting to the RUP to study its implementation.