by Brianna Crandall — March 13, 2015—At nearly $1.3 trillion in estimated global revenue for 2014, the market for advanced energy products and services is as large as apparel and fashion and almost four times the size of the semiconductor industry worldwide, according to a report commissioned by Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) , a national association of businesses working to make energy secure, clean and affordable.
In the United States, advanced energy market revenue grew 14% last year — five times the rate of the U.S. economy overall — to just under $200 billion, making it bigger than the airline industry, equal to pharmaceuticals, and nearly equal to consumer electronics in this country.
The study, conducted by market research and advisory group Navigant Research, found that advanced energy in the United States was an estimated $199.5 billion market in 2014, up 14% from 2013 ($169 billion), and five times the rate of growth of the U.S. economy overall.
Areas of growth included solar energy (up 39%) and natural gas generating equipment (48%), in long-anticipated response to lower-priced natural gas supplies. Wind power, which suffered a severe setback in 2013 due to the on-again, off-again federal production tax credit (PTC), rebounded in 2014 with four-fold growth, to $8.2 billion, and a pipeline of projects that could result in revenue rivaling the $25 billion realized in 2012, its biggest year to date.
Advanced Energy Now 2015 Market Report is the third annual report of market size, by revenue, of the advanced energy industry, worldwide and in the United States, produced by Navigant Research for AEE. This year’s report contains four years of revenue data, starting with 2011. Among the findings:
- With global revenue up 12% over 2013, 2014 was the biggest growth year for advanced energy worldwide since AEE began tracking these markets in 2011.
- U.S. advanced energy revenue has grown 38% over the four years from 2011 to 2014. U.S. advanced energy represents 15% of the world market.
- With the addition of new revenue data on residential energy efficient lighting, Building Efficiency is now the largest segment of the U.S. advanced energy market, with revenue of $60.1 billion in 2014. Counting only those products for which AEE has four years of data, revenue growth in Building Efficiency is 43% over four years.
- In 2013, the severe downturn in wind energy due to uncertainty over the federal production tax credit (PTC), with revenue dropping to $2.1 billion from $25.5 billion in 2012, was enough to offset growth in other segments of U.S. advanced energy to show an overall decline of 4% year over year. But wind bounced back in 2014, to $8.2 billion, nearly four times 2013 revenue.
- Including wind, the Electricity Generation segment of advanced energy grew 47% overall in the USA, to $45.8 billion in 2014. Solar photovoltaic (PV) revenue was up 39%, to $22.5 billion, capping four-year growth of 173%. Natural gas generating equipment (combined cycle and simple cycle gas turbines) saw an increase for the first time in four years, with U.S. revenue up 48% to $6.4 billion—a sign that the natural gas revolution is now translating into new orders, not just higher utilization of existing natural gas power plants.
- The U.S. Fuel Production segment reached $49 billion in 2014, up from a revised 2013 total of $48.4 billion, with $39.1 billion of that total from sales of ethanol.
- In Transportation, U.S. revenue for hybrid vehicles was down 19% but up 34% for plug-in electric vehicles, while natural gas-powered vehicles jumped 26% in revenue. Revenue from electric vehicle charging stations was up 31% in the USA, to $201.5 million, up seven-fold from 2011.
In addition to what AEE says is the most comprehensive market data ever compiled, Advanced Energy Now 2015 Market Report contains 17 feature articles on significant trends and developments, ranging from “smart parking” systems and biofuels for specialized markets and emerging economies to industrial energy management and energy storage. The full report is available for download from the AEE Web site.
