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Benchmarks of Global Clean Energy Manufacturing

The Benchmarks of Global Clean Energy Manufacturing will help policymakers and industry gain deeper understanding of global manufacturing of clean energy technologies. CEMAC's analysis of the product supply chains can inform decisions related to manufacturing facilities for extracting and processing raw materials, making the array of required subcomponents, and assembling the final product.

The report is the first of its kind to isolate and quantify the economic impacts of the clean energy manufacturing sectors. Benchmarks of Global Clean Energy Manufacturing provides a point against which we can compare over time as the clean energy revolution unfolds.

Creating a Common Framework for Analysis

CEMAC establishes a common framework and new methodologies for assessing and comparing clean energy technology manufacturing supply chains, allowing industry and policymakers to evaluate clean energy impact in terms comparable to those for fossil fuels.

CEMAC created four common points of reference—benchmarks—provide a standardized basis for comparing key economic aspects of clean energy technology manufacturing on a national and global basis.

  1. Value Added — Estimate of clean energy manufacturing contribution to national economies
  2. Trade Flow — Snapshot of trade activity across the supply chain
  3. Market Size — Relative concentration of consumption of clean energy technologies
  4. Manufacturing Capacity and Production — Distribution of manufacturing activity and where growth may occur.

Insights

Larger economies such as the United States and Japan, with more extensive domestic manufacturing supply chains and higher prevailing wages, tend to retain more value added from clean energy manufacturing than smaller economies

Manufacturing of clean energy technologies is a complex global enterprise, with extensive trade to support the geographical distribution of production and demand across the links in the supply chain. Economies that are net importers of end products may be major exporters of upstream processed materials and subcomponents of those same technologies.

Production of wind turbine components and c-Si PV modules is more concentrated than production of LED chips and LDV Li-ion battery cells. Wind components are typically made in the same economies that have high demand, while c-Si PV modules, LED chips, and LDV Li-ion battery cells are less coincident.

Across the four clean energy technologies evaluated in 2014, there was generally an excess of manufacturing capacity relative to global demand.

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Scope of Study

Economies:

United States, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and United Kingdom

Technologies

Crystalline Silicon (c-Si) PV Modules

Key Findings

Interactive Trade Flow

pv shape

Automotive Li-ion Battery Cells

Key Findings

Interactive Trade Flow

battery shape

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