Although our understanding of industry cluster
dynamics is fairly well developed, it is less clear
whether renewable energy firms and related potential
suppliers co-locate in similar ways to other
more established industries. Consequently, this
paper should be primarily viewed as a first step in
disentangling the co-locational tendencies of the
renewable industry and related potential suppliers.
Based on methodology and data developed
by the Renewable Energy Policy Project and the
North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association,
we find that the geography of the potential renewable
suppliers is tightly concentrated along the
I-85 corridor between Charlotte, the Triad and
the Research Triangle region with significant outposts
in Hickory, Wilmington and especially Asheville.
It also appears that the potential suppliers
have co-locational preferences that overlap significantly
with actual renewable energy and energyefficiency
firms already located in North Carolina.
Less well understood is how these potential
suppliers and renewable/energy-efficiency firms
inter-relate regarding both potential knowledge
spillover effects and the formation of formal and
informal networks of production—a key area for
future research