The performance of a large absorber field for swimming pool heating with a PV-powered circulating pump (PV-absorber system) was studied. The steady-state characteristics of several directly coupled and MPP tracked PV-pumping subsystems were calculated. These characteristics were used to measure the useful thermal energy delivered by the combined PV-absorber system. For the climatic conditions of Marburg (Germany), the thermal performance of the MPP tracked PV-absorber system is almost the same as that of a conventional system with a grid-connected circulating pump.