Solar water heating (SWH) is heating water by sunlight, using a solar thermal collector. A variety of configurations is available at varying cost to provide solutions in different climates and latitudes. SWHs are widely used for residential and some industrial applications. As of 2017, global solar hot water (SHW) thermal capacity is 472 GW and the market is dominated by China, the United States and Turkey. Barbados, Austria, Cyprus, Israel and Greece are the leading countries by capacity per person.
