Abstract
Innovation and entrepreneurship are defined and contextualized through interviews with seven high level executives/owners of renewable energy firms and two important local city officials in the Coachella Valley. The firms are described, based on the interviews and other documentation. As a framework, the renewable energy manufacturing supply chain is presented, showing the progression of steps from raw materials to final product, with associated producers and end users. This framework is compared to the literature on renewables entrepreneurship, which includes consideration of the barriers to entrepreneurs for renewable manufacturing. The seven entrepreneurial firms are analyzed relative to their extent of risk-taking, proactiveness, and innovation. Although a modest start, the products and services being produced by this handful of innovative firms could become a larger and even prominent cluster of renewables manufacturing and services. Furthermore, based on the interviews of city officials, the two cities’ approaches to supporting renewable energy manufacturing are presented and contrasted. The findings point to the need for continued support for entrepreneurial activity. The results suggest benefits for the entrepreneurs in developing partnerships with other renewable companies in the supply-value chain to maximize opportunities.
This chapter is co-authored by Monica Perry and James B. Pick.
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Pick, J.B., Perry, M. (2017). Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Renewable Energy: Case Studies from Coachella Valley. In: Renewable Energy: Problems and Prospects in Coachella Valley, California. SpringerBriefs in Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51526-7_6
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