State of Advanced Energy: Notable Growth Trends within Advanced Energy (Part 4 of 5)
Tom Burton, Member of the firm’s Corporate & Securities Section and Founder and Chair of the firm’s Energy Technology Practice, will publish bi-weekly installments providing key takeaways from the four sections of AEE’s webinar including: Industry Growth; Advanced Energy Jobs; Growth Trends; and Policy. This is the fourth installment of the series. Click to read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
Throughout AEE's webinar, panelists broke down the trends within growth of the advanced energy markets and presented the key takeaways from the AEE report. Most notably, building efficiency is the largest segment of advanced energy revenue in the U.S., reaching almost $70 billion in 2016. This represents more than a third of advanced energy in the U.S., and is up 64% since 2011. Panelist Kevin Self noted that buildings consume about 41% of U.S. energy, so energy efficiency remains the most cost effective way to control spending. Other notable growth trends include:
- Wind has remained steady, producing roughly $14 billion in revenues in both 2015 and 2016. This a good pattern compared to earlier fluctuations due to uncertainty with production tax credits. The extension and renewal of this tax credit creates the ability for the wind industry to develop at a steadier place.
- Solar continues to boom, reaching $25 billion in U.S. revenue last year—up 30% since 2015 and tripling since 2011. Panelist Paul Kaleta emphasized that solar energy is firmly at the forefront of energy transformation in the U.S., and is now economically competitive with fossil fuels.
- Energy storage is up 54% in 2016, at nearly half a million dollars in revenue.
- Electric vehicles also exhibited strong growth at 48%, with U.S. Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV) revenue at $7.8 billion in 2016. Panelist Zachary Kahn also advised that we can expect to see the use of electric buses grow exponentially in the U.S. over the next 5-10 years.
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