Advanced Energy Perspectives

Since 2016, the year when authoritative data first became available, we have been reporting the size and growth of employment in advanced energy on an annual basis. During that time, we have seen U.S. advanced energy jobs grow from 2.7 million in 2015 to 3.6 million in 2019. Each year the growth in advanced energy employment has outpaced growth in U.S. jobs overall, often by a factor of two or more. So it is with the latest numbers. But this is not like any other year. Rather, the job growth of last year is now overshadowed by the immediate job losses resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Now the critical jobs need is sustaining the industry during the lockdown – and making good on the employer expectations of growth coming into 2020 by driving the economic recovery to follow.

This is one in a series of excerpts from the Advanced Energy Now 2019 Market Report, prepared for AEE by Navigant Research.

Advanced Electricity Generation is now the second largest advanced energy segment globally, having been displaced as the biggest by Advanced Transportation in 2017. At $453 billion, Advanced Electricity Generation was down slightly in 2018. Global revenue has been largely flat for the past two years, dropping roughly $1 billion each year since 2016, but the total masks significant growth in solar and hydropower in 2017, nuclear power in 2018, and wind in both years. In the United States, Advanced Electricity Generation continues to be the second largest segment of the advanced energy market and is still growing strongly, up 8% in 2018, with revenue growth in wind and solar, while natural gas turbines held steady. Over the 2011-18 period, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for Advanced Electricity Generation revenue was -1% globally, while for U.S. revenue compound annual growth was 6%.

This is one in a series of excerpts from the Advanced Energy Now 2019 Market Report, prepared for AEE by Navigant Research.

Advanced Fuel Delivery revenue – here quantified for just Fueling Stations serving natural gas and hydrogen vehicles – remained essentially flat globally in 2018, at $991 million, after 4% increase in 2017. (For Charging Infrastructure for electric vehicles, see Electricity Distribution and Management.) In the United States, the market for Advanced Fuel Delivery grew 5% in 2018, after three years of declines. Overall, spending on natural gas and hydrogen fueling stations has shrunk by more than half worldwide since 2011, and by one quarter in the United States, and by even more compared with the peak years of 2014 and 2012, respectively. The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for Advanced Fuel Delivery revenue was -11% from 2011 to 2018 globally and -4% in the United States.

This is one in a series of excerpts from the Advanced Energy Now 2019 Market Report, prepared for AEE by Navigant Research.

Advanced Industry, the sixth largest advanced energy segment both globally and domestically, contains two subsegments: Manufacturing Machinery and Process Equipment and Industrial Combined Heat and Power (CHP). Manufacturing Machinery and Process Equipment is tracked through sales of industrial energy management systems, which are software and services for energy management within an industrial facility or across an enterprise to meet efficiency, cost savings, and sustainability targets while maintaining optimal operation of production processes.

Global Advanced Industry revenue reached $54.5 billion in 2018, a 12% increase over 2017, building on 11% growth the year before. This is an acceleration over previous years of steady growth driven by the expansion of manufacturing machinery and process equipment caused by increased global production and the adoption of advanced technology in industrial processes. Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for global Advanced Industry revenue over the 2011-18 period was 9%. Growth in U.S. revenue was even greater over the period since 2011, more than doubling in that time, with CAGR of 12%, but essentially flat in 2018.

This is one in a series of excerpts from the Advanced Energy Now 2019 Market Report, prepared for AEE by Navigant Research.

Revenue from Advanced Fuel Production grew to $160 billion worldwide in 2018, an increase of 11%, after bouncing back in 2017 from down years in 2015 and 2016. In the United States, Advanced Fuel revenue staged an even bigger comeback, reaching $33.4 billion in 2018 on 12% growth year over year. In the United States, that growth was led by Ethanol, which had declined sharply in revenue in previous years, and Biodiesel, while globally CNG and LNG used for transportation accounted for the biggest revenue gains over the past two years. The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for global Advanced Fuel Production revenue over the 2011-2018 period was 5%, while in the United States compound annual growth was -4%.