Collaborative Advantage by Jonas Nahm

Author:Jonas Nahm
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2021-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Table 5.3 Goldwind Wind Turbine Collaboration

Year Program Goal Technology Source

1998 600 KW turbine Jacobs Energie, Germany (license)

2001 1.2 MW turbine (direct drive) Vensys, Germany (license)

2005 1.5 MW turbine (direct drive) Vensys Germany (license)

2010 2.5/5 MW turbine (direct drive) Vensys Germany (joint development)

2012 10 MW offshore Vensys Germany (joint development)

Source: CRESP 2005; Ministry of Science and Technology 2007; Author Interview, Beijing, March 23, 2015.

The second source of technology for China’s domestic turbine manufacturers involved global suppliers, many of which eventually established local production facilities in response to local content requirements.58 Foreign firms also began sourcing from Chinese suppliers and, in turn, helped these suppliers meet global technical standards.59

In the solar sector, Chinese scientists educated at the world’s top solar laboratories founded the majority of firms. Research funding dispensed through the 863 and Torch Programs, together with support for high-technology firms in HTZs, attracted these scientists back to China. The technological skills of foreign-trained returnees obviated the need for licenses and joint development agreements common in the wind industry, but solar firms still tapped into global technology networks, in particular for production equipment. Foreign equipment manufacturers quickly established Chinese sales networks.60 Foreign partners provided access to key technologies, capabilities, and components that Chinese wind and solar manufacturers could not establish in-house. But they had less ability to help Chinese producers scale new technologies to mass production.

In such collaborations, China’s wind and solar firms focused their R&D efforts on building skills that could not be accessed in global supply chains: knowledge-intensive capabilities in scale-up and mass manufacturing that I refer to as innovative manufacturing.61 These proficiencies built on existing manufacturing capabilities in China’s economic development zones, yet they traveled far beyond mere fabrication and assembly, utilizing engineering and design knowledge to translate complex technologies into mass-manufacturable products. Innovative manufacturing included improvements to process designs long associated with manufacturing innovation, but also entailed far-reaching changes to product designs to accommodate manufacturing requirements and meet cost targets for final products. Engineering teams in China’s wind and solar firms met their production and cost targets through the substitution of materials, the redesign of particular components, and the reorganization of internal product architectures to allow for better and faster manufacturability at scale.62

As executives repeatedly highlighted in interviews, most firms relied on global partners to access new technologies, so what set them apart from one another in the highly competitive wind and solar market was their ability to achieve higher speeds and lower costs in manufacturing.63 Heads of technical departments in wind turbine and solar PV manufacturing firms frequently discussed the importance of design capabilities for achieving cost and speed targets in the commercialization of renewable energy technologies, even when an external firm had originally developed those technologies. Many reported either significantly redesigning licensed turbine technologies or observing similar improvements in technologies licensed by local partners and competitors.

To specialize in innovative manufacturing was not a monolithic enterprise. Yes, these firms all needed advanced capabilities in product design; yet their work differed from the ideal of autonomous technology development that resided at the heart of Beijing’s indigenous innovation strategy.

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