Measurement and comparison of export sophistication of the new energy industry in 30 countries during 2000–2015

Highlights: • The export sophistication of new energy industry is measured by 3 different indices. • The evolution of the export sophistication of new energy products has compared. • The technical contents of new energy industry of various countries are compared. • The measurement results of the export sophistication can be used by others directly. -- Abstract: Based on the traditional export sophistication indices used at a national level, three indices for measuring the export sophistication of the new energy industry are proposed. Meanwhile, data from 30 countries from 2000 to 2015 in the UN Comtrade database are used to calculate and compare export sophistication of global sub-divided new energy products and new energy industries at a transnational level. Moreover, the development levels of new energy industries in typical counties and regions are analysed through use of a regional anomaly test. The research results demonstrate that new energy products are ranked, in descending order, as: wind, biomass, nuclear, and solar energy products according to their technical contents, while nuclear power products show higher technical content than biomass energy products when considering product quality differences. Besides, the technical contents of new energy industries in different countries show regional heterogeneity to a certain extent: the new energy industries in Europe present increasingly evident superiority with time in terms of the technical content; the technical content of new energy industries in Asia presents a growing gap with other countries; while the technical content of new energy industries in America gradually catches up with other countries.