Grants

University of California, Berkeley

To examine the design of public sector institutions focused on commercializing new clean energy technologies

  • Amount $619,843
  • City Berkeley, CA
  • Investigator Jonas Meckling
  • Year 2023
  • Program Research
  • Sub-program Energy and Environment

Recent federal policy has led to the establishment and reinvigoration of many agencies and programs devoted to spurring the development and commercialization of clean energy technologies. Examples include the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, tax credits provided through the U.S. Treasury, the Loan Programs Office, and the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy. This grant funds a project led by Jonas Meckling at the University of California, Berkeley and Laura Diaz Anadon at the University of Cambridge to comprehensively identify these programs, document the strategies they employ, and study their impact on energy technology commercialization outcomes. Various methodological approaches will be brought to bear on these questions. First, the research team, will collect qualitative data about the institutional characteristics and functions of these programs, drawing on document reviews, interviews with key stakeholders, and other sources of information. They will then use this initial analysis to identify different institutional design features that warrant further quantitative study. In the second phase, the team will analyze energy technology commercialization by examining two databases that track patenting, investments, and other outcomes. Finally, the team will produce an analysis of a select subset of institutions through comparative, in-depth case studies that detail how these public sector organizations operate and function. The team’s political economy lens will allow the research to go beyond mere funding levels to assess a fuller range of the market-shaping impacts these institutions have in the clean energy ecosystem, such as helping to prioritize clean energy technology development goals, de-risk future investment, and facilitate learning within and across industries.

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