Solar thermal devices have been used in the West Indian islands for over a century. Traditionally, crops such as rice or cocoa have been dried in the sun on drying floors. In the last twenty five years solar water heaters have become commercially available and over 30,000 are now in use in Barbados and about 2000 in Jamaica. Solar stills and solar crop dryers have also been deployed and solar collectors have been used to power solar cookers and adsorption chillers. Compound parabolic concentrating solar collectors have been used for experimental purposes but the high level of diffuse radiation obtained during most months of the year makes concentrating collectors unsuitable.