Renewable futures and industrial legacies: Wind and solar sectors in China, Germany, and the United States

Abstract

This article develops an explanation for patterns of industrial specialization in emerging high-technology industries through a comparative analysis of wind and solar sectors in China, Germany, and the United States. Although governments have held similar industrial policy goals in the support of renewable energy industries, firms in all three economies have established distinct innovative capabilities in response to the policies of the state. This article shows that firms utilize both legacy institutions and engage in relational learning in global networks to carve out distinct niches in emerging industries. Based on an original dataset of more than 200 firm-level interviews, the article suggests that the rise of global value chains has widened the space for national diversity in industrial specialization. Firms no longer have to establish the full range of skills required to bring an idea from lab to market, but can specialize and collaborate with others. In this context, firms respond to industrial policy by incrementally building on existing industrial capabilities and by relying on familiar public resources and institutions, even in emerging industries. These findings point to the role of industrial legacies in shaping firms' positions in global value chains and show that firms are active agents in maintaining distinct industrial specializations and domestic institutions under conditions of globalization.

The power of process: State capacity and climate policy

“…California and Germany are leaders in the development of climate policy (Meckling, Kelsey, Biber, & Zysman, ; Nahm, ; Vogel, ). In the mid‐2000s, both jurisdictions adopted ambitious emission reduction goals to be achieved by 2020.…”

The state and development

“…Anecdotal evidence suggests, however, that the state is orchestrating a programme of industrial development following the classic developmental state path of encouraging investment in higher-value-added sectors that might otherwise be considered too risky by private investors. For example, Jonas Nahm's (2017aNahm's ( , 2017b analysis of the role of the state in promoting the solar power industry suggests that a division of labour between national state policies and local implementation has been quite effective. In short, looking at China suggests that a multilevel analysis of embedded autonomy may produce a more sophisticated version of the embedded autonomy framework, one more suited, not just to China, but to larger countries more generally.…”

Governing renewables: Policy feedback in a global energy transition

“…Incremental growth of political support for renewable energy policy following the passage of the 1990 feed-in law yielded the Renewable Energy Sources Act of 2000 (Michaelowa, 2003). Industry was a core constituency for the law, but political support also encompassed a variety of non-economic interests (Lauber and Jacobsson, 2016; Nahm, 2014).…”

“…The BEE was an umbrella association with technology-specific associations as members. Joining the BEE, the German Engineering Association (VDMA), a trade group of equipment manufacturers that represents a good share of the Mittelstand , Germany’s industrial engine of small- and medium-sized firms, supported the law, broadening industry support to incumbent manufacturers (Nahm, 2014). Compared to the coalition supporting the Electricity Feed-in Law 10 years earlier, the alliance had broadened significantly in terms of industry participation (Jacobsson and Lauber, 2006).…”