Patents in Renewable Energy

Short description

Number of patent applications filed to the European patent office (EPO) for inventions within renewable energy.

Be aware that due to delayed data entries in the original database the values for the last couple of years might be underestimated and could possibly increase over the next years. Have this in mind when working with data from recent years.

Meta data

Unit:

patent applications

Original data

Data:

renewable_energy_patents.csv

Unit for original data:

number of patent applications

Date of extraction:

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Data source link:

OECD patent database

Rationale

This indicator monitors innovation outcomes in the form of patents filed for inventions. The information contained patents can help indicate the innovative performance in European Research Area (ERA) countries. Patents can help protect inventions and aid businesses development to bridge the gap between ideas and actual implementation of innovative technologies.

Limitations

Only patents filed to the EPO are listed in the data. This contains inventions sought protected within the jurisdiction of the EPO and also captures international patents filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which must also be filed to the EPO. The method does, however, not list patents which are filed to either the United States Patents and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the Japan Patent Office (JPO) alone. Hence, inventions which are sought protected in the ERA countries and all the PCT member states are covered, but not inventions which are sought protected under the jurisdiction of either the USPTO or JPO alone.
The patents are also listed according to the country of the inventor(s), though an invention may have been developed in a different country.
Many patents are never used in any industrial application, and do therefore not contribute to innovation directly. Many inventions are also not sought patented, either because they cannot be patented or because the inventors attempt to protect the invention through other means. These inventions are not captured through patent statistics, which are then not a perfect indicator for innovation.

Details on Methodology

The OECD have created a search strategy for environment-related technologies (ENV-TECH) based on more than 200,000 different classification symbols, containing both International Patent Classification (IPC) symbols and Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) symbols. The classifications cover a broad spectrum of technologies related to environmental pollution, water scarcity and climate change mitigation. The classifications found in the ENV-TECH search strategy have been grouped according to their relevance within the RECREATE innovation systems. Not all the classifications found in the ENV-TECH search strategy have been used. For each innovation system, a list of the relevant CPC and IPC schemes is created. The raw patent data found in the OECD REGPAT database (which contains all patent filed to the EPO) is then filtered for each list. This yields the number of patent applications relevant within each innovation system. These are allocated fractionally to the inventor(s) country according to inventor share. The patents are then sorted according to the priority year of filing.

List of IPC and CPC codes used in patent applications in renewable energy technologies

• 4.1.1. Wind energy Y02E10/70
• − Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction: blades or rotors, components or gearbox, control of turbines, generator,
• nacelles, onshore and offshore towers
• − Wind turbines with rotation axis perpendicular to the wind direction
• − Power conversion electric or electronic aspects; for grid-connected applications; concerning power management inside
• the plant, e.g. battery (dis)charging, operation, hybridisation
• Y02E10/70-766
• 4.1.2. Solar thermal energy Y02E10/40
• − Tower concentrators; Dish collectors; Fresnel lenses; Heat exchange systems; Trough concentrators
• − Conversion of thermal power into mechanical power, e.g. Rankine, Stirling solar thermal engines; Thermal updraft
• − Mountings or tracking
• Y02E10/40-47
• 4.1.3. Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy Y02E10/50
• − PV systems with concentrators
• − Material technologies: CuInSe2 material PV cells; Dye sensitized solar cells; Solar cells from Group II-VI materials; Solar
• cells from Group III-V materials; Microcrystalline silicon PV cells; Polycrystalline silicon PV cells; Monocrystalline silicon
• PV cells; Amorphous silicon PV cells; Organic PV cells
• − Power conversion electric or electronic aspects: for grid-connected applications; concerning power management inside
• the plant, e.g. battery (dis)charging, operation, hybridisation; Maximum power point tracking [MPPT] systems
• Y02E10/50-58
• 4.1.4. Solar thermal-PV hybrids Y02E10/60
• 4.1.5. Geothermal energy Y02E10/10
• − Earth coil heat exchangers; Compact tube assemblies, e.g. geothermal probes
• − Systems injecting medium directly into ground, e.g. hot dry rock system, underground water
• − Systems injecting medium into a closed well
• − Systems exchanging heat with fluids in pipes, e.g. fresh water or waste water
• Y02E10/10-18
• 4.1.6. Marine energy Y02E10/30
• − Oscillating water column [OWC]
• − Ocean thermal energy conversion [OTEC]
• − Salinity gradient
• − Wave energy or tidal swell, e.g. Pelamis-type
• Y02E10/30-38
• 4.1.7. Hydro energy Y02E10/20
• − Conventional, e.g. with dams, turbines and waterwheels
• − Tidal, stream or damless hydropower, e.g. sea flood and ebb, river, stream
• Y02E10/20-28
• 4.2. ENERGY GENERATION FROM FUELS OF NON-FOSSIL ORIGIN Y02E50
• 4.2.1. Biofuels Y02E50/10
• − CHP turbines for biofeed
• − Gas turbines for biofeed
• − Bio-diesel
• − Bio-pyrolysis
• − Torrefaction of biomass
• − Cellulosic bio-ethanol
• − Grain bio-ethanol
• − Bio-alcohols produced by other means than fermentation
• Y02E50/10-18
• 4.2.2. Fuel from waste Y02E50/30
• − Synthesis of alcohols or diesel from waste including a pyrolysis and/or gasification step
• − Methane production by fermentation of organic by-products, e.g. sludge; Methane from landfill gas
Y02E50/30-346

• 4.6. ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES (Technologies with potential or indirect contribution to emissions mitigation) Y02E60
• 4.6.1. Energy storage Y02E60/10-17
• 4.6.1.1. Batteries Y02E60/12
• − Lithium-ion batteries
• − Alkaline secondary batteries, e.g. NiCd or NiMH
• − Lead-acid batteries
• − Hybrid cells
• 4.6.1.2. Capacitors Y02E60/13
• − Ultracapacitors, supercapacitors, double-layer capacitors
• 4.6.1.3. Thermal storage Y02E60/14
• − Sensible heat storage, Latent heat storage, Cold storage
• 4.6.1.4. Pressurised fluid storage Y02E60/15
• 4.6.1.5. Mechanical storage Y02E60/16
• − Mechanical energy storage, e.g. flywheels
4.6.1.6. Pumped storage Y02E60/17

• 4.6.2. Hydrogen technology Y02E60/30-368
• − Hydrogen storage: Storage of liquefied, solidified, or compressed hydrogen in containers; Storage in caverns; Reversible
• uptake of hydrogen by an appropriate medium (e.g. carbon, metal, rare earth metal, metal alloy, organic compound)
• − Hydrogen distribution
• − Hydrogen production from non-carbon containing sources: by chemical reaction with metal hydrides, e.g. hydrolysis of
• metal borohydrides; by decomposition of inorganic compounds, e.g. splitting of water other than electrolysis, ammonia
• borane; by electrolysis of water; by photo-electrolysis
• 4.6.3. Fuel cells Y02E60/50-566
• − Fuel cells
• − characterised by type or design: Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells [PEMFC], Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells [DAFC],
• Direct Methanol Fuel Cells [DMFC]; Solid Oxide Fuel Cells [SOFC]; Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells [MCFC]; Bio Fuel Cells;
• Regenerative or indirect fuel cells, e.g. redox flow type batteries
• − integrally combined with other energy production systems: Cogeneration of mechanical energy, e.g. integral combination
• of fuel cells and electric motors; Production of chemical products inside the fuel cell; incomplete combustion
• 4.6.4. Smart grids in the energy sector Y02E60/70
• − Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies
• mediating in the improvement of the carbon footprint of electrical power generation, transmission or distribution, i.e. smart
• grids as enabling technology in the energy generation sector
Y02E60/70-7892

• 4.7. OTHER ENERGY CONVERSION OR MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS REDUCING GHG EMISSIONS Y02E70
• − Hydrogen from electrolysis with energy of non-fossil origin, e.g. PV, wind power, nuclear
• − Systems combining fuel cells with production of fuel of non-fossil origin
• − Systems combining energy storage with energy generation of non-fossil origin
• − Energy efficient batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors charging or discharging systems or
methods, e.g. auxiliary power consumption reduction, resonant chargers or dischargers, resistive losses minimization

• 6.1.3. Electric vehicles
• Electric machine technologies for applications in electromobility
• − Electric machine technologies for applications in electromobility
• o characterised by aspects of the electric machine
• o Control strategies of electric machines for automotive applications
• o Control strategies for ac machines other than vector control
• o Control strategies for dc machines
• o Number of electric drive machines: one, two, or more
• Y02T10/64-649
• Energy storage for electromobility
• Energy storage for electromobility
• − Batteries, e.g. lithium ion battery, lead acid battery
• − Capacitors, supercapacitors or ultracapacitors
• − Mechanical energy storage devices, e.g. flywheels
• − Energy storage management
• − Electromobility-specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
Y02T10/70-7094
• Electric energy management in electromobility
• Electric energy management in electromobility
• − Electric power conversion within the vehicle
• − Optimisation of vehicle performance
• o Automated control
• o Desired performance achievement
• o Optimisation of energy management
• o Route optimisation
Y02T10/72-7291

• 6.5.1. Electric vehicle charging
• − Electric charging stations
• o by conductive energy transmission
• o by inductive energy transmission
• o by exchange of energy storage elements
• o Alignment between the vehicle and the charging station
• o Converters or inverters for charging
• o Energy exchange control or determination
• − Plug-in electric vehicles
• − Information or communication technologies [ICT] improving the operation of electric vehicles
• o Navigation
• o ICT for charging station selection (suitability, location, availability)
• o Smart grids as interface for battery charging of electric and hybrid vehicles; Remote or cooperative charging
• operation; Aspects supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, e.g. recognition, authentication,
• identification or billing
• Y02T 90/10-169
• 6.5.2. Application of fuel cell and hydrogen technology to transportation
• − Application of fuel cell technology to transportation
• o Fuel cells specially adapted to transport applications, e.g. automobile, bus, ship
• o Fuel cell powered electric vehicles [FCEV]
• o Fuel cells as on-board power source in aeronautics
• o Fuel cells as on-board power source in waterborne transportation
• − Application of hydrogen technology to transportation
• o Hydrogen as fuel for road transportation
• o Hydrogen as fuel in aeronautics
• o Hydrogen as fuel in waterborne transportation
• Y02T 90/30-38
Y02T 90/40-46

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The indicator is relevant to the following innovation systems on this website

Renewable energy

The transition of the energy system towards renewable sources is important for climate change mitigation.