Spatial lifecycles of cleantech industries – The global development history of solar photovoltaics

Abstract

New industries develop in increasingly globalized networks, whose dynamics are not well understood by academia and policy making. Solar photovoltaics (PV) are a case in point for an industry that experienced several shifts in its spatial organization over a short period of time. A lively debate has recently emerged on whether the spatial dynamics in new cleantech sectors are in line with existing industry lifecycle models or whether globalization created new lifecycle patterns that are not fully explained in the literature. This paper addresses this question based on an extensive analysis of quantitative data in the solar PV sector. Comprehensive global databases containing 86,000 patents as well as manufacturing and sales records are used to analyze geographic shifts in the PV sector's innovation, manufacturing and market deployment activities between 1990 and 2012. The analysis reveals spatial lifecycle patterns with lowerthan-expected first mover advantages in manufacturing and market activities and an earlier entry of firms from emerging economies in manufacturing and knowledge creation. We discuss implications of these findings for the competitive positions of companies in developed and emerging economies, derive new stylized hypotheses for industry lifecycle theories, and sketch policy approaches that are reflexive of global interdependencies in emerging cleantech industries.

Time to get ready: Conceptualizing the temporal and spatial dynamics of formative phases for energy technologies

“…skilled personnel, technology standards). Studies of energy technologies support the tendency for accelerated diffusion times in follower regions (Wilson & Grubler, 2015;Gosens et al, 2017;Binz et al, 2017;Surana & Anadon, 2015).…”

“…Institutional and organizational changes are needed to enhance local absorptive capacity for adopting new technologies (Bergek et al, 2015). Examples include the importance of early experimental projects to create system learning that accelerated the adoption of wind technologies in Portugal (Bento & Fontes, 2015), the role of industrial policy promoting both demand and supply in the development of wind energy in China (Surana & Anadon, 2015), and the difficulties for followers to assimilate knowledge spillovers in the case of solar energy technologies (Binz et a., 2017).…”

“…This interactive process of testing and improvement, and aligning market and user needs, tends to occur in a small number of initial markets. At the end of the formative phase the technology becomes ready to leave the initial markets and diffuse out into new markets (Binz et al, 2017;Grubler, 2012).…”

Configuration Effect of Antireflection Layer on Photovoltaic Performance of Silicon/PEDOT:PSS Hybrid Solar Cells

“…However, it appeared that such chemical etching made it difficult to realize the micropore shapes, which are effective for the antireflection layer. In contrast, the MACE technique, using the metallic catalyst (Ag nanoparticles with a mean diameter of 100 nm formed by using an aqueous solution of AgClO 4 and NaOH) and the etchant (e.g., HF and H 2 O 2 ), could uniformly form honeycomb structures with cylindrical micropore shapes consisting of an average pore size of approximately 0.5 μm, and an average depth of approximately 1.8 μm, over the entire surface of the Si substrate (Figures 1e and 1f). The cylindrical micropore shapes were produced with the assistance of the catalytic Ag nanoparticles that were deposited directly on the substrate's surface.…”

“…In addition, the seriousness of global environmental issues, such as the emission of greenhouse gases and the frequency of abnormal weather, has grown increasingly severe [2] . To resolve these issues, solar photovoltaic systems, which are a renewable energy source, have attracted attention worldwide [3,4] . One advantage of photovoltaic power generation is that, relative to other renewable energy sources, it can be used to create electricity everywhere [5] .…”