Capacities map 2011: update on the R&D investment in three selected priority technologies within the European strategic energy technology plan: wind, PV and CSP

Collective R&D investments in the three selected low-carbon (LC) energy sectors (wind, PV and CSP) and the share of corporate, national and EU public R&D appropriations in 2008 were assessed by a method comparable with the previous SET Plan capacities map. Collective R&D investments in the three selected priority energy sectors were approximately 40% higher than the 2007 values and amounted to €1.23 billion. The corporate sector contributed more than half of the overall R&D investments in the three priority energy technologies in 2008: 84 % in wind technology, 56 % in PV and 55 % in CSP. The overall corporate R&D expenditures in Europe accounted for close to €850 m, whereas public R&D expenditures by the EU Member States (and also CH and NO) were €303 m and public EU investments were €80.6 m (including FP6/FP7 and CIP-IEE programmes, but excluding SF/CF as well as EIB and ERDF financing). Both public and corporate R&D investments in wind, PV and CSP energy technologies are largely concentrated in a limited number of the EU Member States — wind: DE, DK and ES; PV: DE, FR and IT; CSP: IT, ES and DE. The countries with high levels of public R&D support also accounted for the largest corporate R&D investments in the revised sectors, suggesting that public and industrial research investments complement one another. European corporate R&D remains the world leader in terms of investments in the wind sector in 2008 with 76 % of the world’s total corporate R&D investments. The PV sector’s corporate R&D investments in 2008 were distributed equally among the Europe, the US and Asia, each holding approximately 1/3 of the R&D investments (with Europe slightly ahead). In the CSP sector, Europe is leading with close to 70 % corporate R&D investments followed by the US, while Asia and the rest of the word have negligible shares in the sector’s corporate R&D funding.