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Innovations in the Wind Energy Sector

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  • Dali T. Laxton

Abstract

When technological innovations are implemented in the wind energy sector, we should observe reductions in the production cost of electricity. However, the accuracy of inferring the rate of innovation from production cost reductions is open to challenge when those costs change due to factors not attributable to technological innovation. This study applies an engineering model to generate time-series of wind energy production cost data as the measure of innovation. This approach enables us to exclude factors which are not attributable to technological innovation. In order to illustrate the importance of our measure of innovation, we conduct a learning curve analysis which measures the correlation between deployment of wind energy technology and cost reductions in electricity production. Our data delivers an improved fit of the learning curve in wind energy technology relative to alternative measures of innovation from the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Dali T. Laxton, 2019. "Innovations in the Wind Energy Sector," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp647, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    • Handle: RePEc:cer:papers:wp647
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    innovation; levelized engineering cost of energy; wind turbine vintages; learning curve;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • Q28 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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