Renewable Energy in North Carolina: The Potential Supply Chain and Connections to Existing Renewable and Energy Efficient Firms

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Keith G. Debbage, Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Although our understanding of industry cluster dynamics is fairly well developed, it is less clear whether renewable energy firms and related potential suppliers co-locate in similar ways to other more established industries. Consequently, this paper should be primarily viewed as a first step in disentangling the co-locational tendencies of the renewable industry and related potential suppliers. Based on methodology and data developed by the Renewable Energy Policy Project and the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, we find that the geography of the potential renewable suppliers is tightly concentrated along the I-85 corridor between Charlotte, the Triad and the Research Triangle region with significant outposts in Hickory, Wilmington and especially Asheville. It also appears that the potential suppliers have co-locational preferences that overlap significantly with actual renewable energy and energyefficiency firms already located in North Carolina. Less well understood is how these potential suppliers and renewable/energy-efficiency firms inter-relate regarding both potential knowledge spillover effects and the formation of formal and informal networks of production—a key area for future research.

Additional Information

Publication
Language: English
Date: 2010
Keywords
north carolina, renewable energy, geography, industry cluster dynamics, industry partnerships, sustainability

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