Why isn’t Solar Thermal more popular?

Since 2009 and the introduction of the Feed in Tariff (FiT) Solar PV has been the choice technology for people looking to generate power from their own rooftops. The FiT really did what is was designed to do and make Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) more accessible as a technology, so much so that they had to cut the tariffs with very short notice as installation rates increased exponentially. A lot of time has passed and the Solarcoaster is a bit more stable now without such hideous peaks and troughs. But throughout the boom ST installations have been treated as a secondary technology. Just in case you are unsure Solar Thermal (ST) has a collector on the roof as you might expect but I generates heat instead of electricity. Heat that can stored within a hot water cylinder ready for when it’s needed, and everyone needs hot water for washing up, bathing! Yet we are filling domestic roofs with SPV because of our need for electricity, then adding batteries to store the energy because if you dont use it it gets fed back into the grid for your neighbour to use. Yet ST doesn’t need any extra equipment to store the energy, it’s already thermal and ready to use when you get home. It’s also much more efficient than SPV! a typical SPV module is around 20% efficient by surface area but ST is around 80%!! making better use of the roof space you have available. Perhaps when you are next looking at a renewable energy project you might just give Solar Thermal some consideration.