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GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS

Changing geography of clean tech

Nature Energy volume 5, pages 735–736 (2020)Cite this article

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The landscape of the global clean energy industry is transforming, with many technology-following firms in developing countries rapidly catching up to — and potentially poised to overtake — leaders in the developed world. New analysis reveals a clearer picture of this changing geography of clean energy value chains over time.

Wind turbines as we conceive them today have been around for decades. Over time, turbine size has increased and they have moved offshore. Wind turbines have become more technologically sophisticated and now incorporate technologies from a range of industries, including shipping for offshore and information technology for recent developments within artificial intelligence, internet of things and other smart solutions. The production of wind turbines has consequently become increasingly globalized and organized into dispersed networks. Within these networks, most supplier firms are relatively small actors focusing on highly specialized segments of the global value chain. Each wind turbine contains a large number of components (blades, control systems, towers, gearboxes and so on) that are furnished by a wide range of suppliers. Still, most industry analysis has focused solely on the large lead firms, whose brand name features on the finished turbine. This focus overlooks the important underlying complexity of technological development.

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Fig. 1: Evolution of supplier locations.

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  1. Department of Organization, Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Stine Haakonsson

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  1. Stine Haakonsson
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Correspondence to Stine Haakonsson.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Haakonsson, S. Changing geography of clean tech. Nat Energy 5, 735–736 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-00690-9

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