1. Summary:
Low-carbon/zero-carbon energy transition and the reshaping of the modern energy system are inevitable choices to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, address the global climate change crisis, and promote the “green recovery” of the global economy in the post-epidemic era. At present, major countries or regions in the world regard the development of new energy technologies as an important breakthrough to lead a new round of energy revolution and technological innovation. New energy technologies are being iterated at an unprecedented speed. Based on the Dimensions database of Digital Science, this study uses a combination of bibliometrics, patent analysis and authoritative expert interviews to analyze global solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and nuclear energy from 2000 to 2019 (especially from 2015 to 2019). Systematic analysis of eight different new energy technology fields, such as hydrogen energy, energy storage, and energy Internet, and their 20 representative technology themes, in order to objectively reflect the hot areas, industrial transformation potential and future development trends of global new energy technology research. . At the same time, this study focuses on the development and research characteristics of new energy technologies in China from a global scale, and compares and analyzes the research competitiveness of other major countries or regions.
2. Research shows:
1) The global new energy research is entering a period of accelerated development, and the three fields of solar energy, energy storage and hydrogen energy have received extensive attention around the world;
2) China’s total contribution to the field of new energy research is relatively large, and the contribution of top high-quality research is also high. However, compared with developed countries such as the United States, Germany, and Japan, China’s papers in most fields are ranked relatively in terms of citation frequency. In the later stage, the overall efficiency of research still needs to be improved;
3) The overall technology conversion rate of research achievements in the global new energy field is low, and the combination of production, education and research needs to be strengthened. Relatively speaking, the conversion rate of research results of energy storage, biomass energy and solar energy is relatively high. Lithium-ion batteries and organic solar cells are technical hotspots of common concern in scientific research and industrial circles;
4) Qualitative analysis shows that the rapid progress of energy storage technology will become a strong support for the large-scale development of renewable energy power and electric vehicles. Hydrogen energy will be an important medium for building a future energy system and realizing energy transformation. Its cost reduction may get rid of the dependence on fossil fuels, and the energy Internet will take advantage of the dual advantages of “Internet +” smart energy to realize the overall optimization of energy allocation.
3. Main conclusion:
(1) The global new energy technology research is entering a period of accelerated development, and the three fields of solar energy, energy storage and hydrogen energy have received wider attention. Battery energy storage technology, solar photovoltaic technology, solar fuel technology, hydrogen production technology, energy Internet architecture and Core equipment technology is the top five most promising technology topics in the world.
(2) China has a strong research activity in the field of new energy. In the past five years, the number of published papers has accounted for more than 1/4 of the world, and the influence of each technology field is higher than the global average. performance is particularly outstanding. Compared with developed countries such as the United States, Germany, and Japan, China is still relatively low in the citation frequency of papers in most fields, and the overall influence of research results needs to be further improved.
(3) The overall conversion rate of global new energy research results is low, and the combination of production, education and research needs to be strengthened. Relatively speaking, the conversion rate of research results of energy storage, biomass energy and solar energy is relatively high. Lithium-ion batteries and organic solar batteries are the technological hotspots of both academia and industry.
(4) Expert interviews in key technical fields believe that the rapid progress of energy storage technology will become a strong support for the large-scale development of renewable energy power and electric vehicles; hydrogen energy will be an important medium for building a future energy system and realizing energy transformation; solar fuel technology The breakthrough and cost reduction may help to get rid of the dependence on fossil fuels; the energy Internet will give play to the dual advantages of “Internet +” and smart energy, and realize the overall and optimal allocation of energy.
(5) Judging from the average citation frequency of papers in various technical fields of China’s new energy research (as shown in the table below): the solar field performed the best, with an average citation frequency of 20.8 times; the energy storage field performed second, with an average citation frequency of 20.5 times; the fields of hydrogen energy and biomass energy are also highly influential, with an average citation frequency of 17.9 times and 14.6 times, respectively; the average citation frequency of other fields is less than 10 times. Further analysis of the “Relative Average Citation Rate (RACR) 5” of each technical field of China’s new energy research shows that the RACR values of the eight technical fields are all greater than 1, indicating that the influence of Chinese papers in all fields of new energy research is higher than global average. Among them, China has the best research influence in the field of solar energy, with a RACR value of 1.6; the research influence performance in the field of hydrogen energy is the second, with a RACR value of 1.5. Compared with other fields of new energy research, China’s research in the field of solar energy and hydrogen energy has a relatively high global influence.
