The Clean Economy Tracker brings together valuable, disparate information related to investment and jobs in clean energy and technology manufacturing and deployment. The methodology, described below, provides users with important background on the key data parameters as well as methods for collection and categorization.
Manufacturing: High Level Questions
This dashboard tracks investments, jobs, and production capacity for clean energy and clean technology manufacturing facilities in the United States. The tracked manufacturing activities include:
- Batteries and Battery Components
- Battery Recycling
- Critical Mineral Extraction and Processing (including cobalt, lithium, manganese, graphite, nickel, rare earth elements, and uranium and nuclear fuel)
- Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging
- EV Component and Assembly
- Solar Energy Components and Assembly
- Transmission & Grid Materials
- Wind Energy Components and Assembly
- Heat Pumps
- Hydrogen Electrolyzers
- Magnets
Additionally, data related to research and development facilities, non-commercial pilot plants, or company headquarters are out of scope.
The core data powering this dashboard is investment announcements from clean energy, clean technologies, and related component manufacturers. This data is collected by monitoring company press releases and news outlets. As a result, the data is forward-looking and may change materially by the time a facility begins production. Data collection commenced in Q3 2023 and is an ongoing effort.
A facility is only included in the dataset once the state where it will be sited is announced. All facilities with an announced address or discernable coordinates are mapped and matched with geospatial data that shows whether the facility is in an energy community, rural community, or low-income community, and the facility’s current congressional district. This data is aggregated at different levels. Users are encouraged to read the “Data Collection Methodology” and “Data Fields” sections below to get a better understanding of the assumptions made to combine these disparate data sources.
The data is updated at least weekly. The date when the data was last updated will appear on the dashboard.
Data is primarily sourced through original research derived from news reporting and primary sources. Data is also sourced from U.S. Department of Energy reports, including Building America’s Clean Energy Future. Sources for each announcement are linked on the dashboard. Facility address data is sourced through original research and government records. The data is often crosschecked with other energy sector tracking tools run by groups including CHARGED, Rhodium Group, E2, BlueGreen Alliance, and Climate Power.
The core data of this dashboard is made up of individual, facility-level announcements related to estimated investments and jobs. These figures are announcements and so may change as projects evolve or are canceled. Additional announcements are recorded in cases where any data point increases or decreases. For example, a facility may announce a decrease in its production capacity from its first announcement. This change would be displayed as a new row of data in the summary table. An announcement with negative numbers on the dashboard refers to a reduction in expected or actualized jobs, investment and/or capacity numbers.
The sum of data across all announcements for a facility will be displayed on all visuals, not as separate data points. These changes are included in the dashboard so that users can view both the original and revised figures. Charts and visuals aggregate data by facility location to account for all announcements at that facility. For example, there are multiple announcements for the Toyota North Carolina Battery Plant in the summary table, but the map aggregates all announcements into a single data point.
In the case of a joint venture (JV), the investment, jobs, and production capacity are split between the involved companies and recorded as separate announcements. An announcement will include (JV) in the facility name if it is a joint venture. Investment, jobs, and production capacity are split evenly, unless otherwise specified by the announcement.
At the top of the Dashboard, there are five KPIs:
- State with Facilities: The number of states with record of at least one manufacturing facility announcement.
- Facilities: The number of manufacturing facilities surfaced on the dashboard.
- Announced Investment: All funding announced for the manufacturing facilities surfaced on the dashboard. The default value is the net sum, unless otherwise filtered for.
- Announced Jobs: All permanent manufacturing jobs announced for the facilities surfaced on the dashboard. The default value is the net sum, unless otherwise filtered for.
- % Investment in Republican Districts: The percentage of announced investment tied to facilities located in congressional districts currently represented by a Republican member in the U.S. House of Representatives. Facilities where an address is not known are excluded. Congressional district data is updated on a monthly basis to reflect any new elections or changes in district boundaries. For more information on the source of the geolocational information, see here.
Note that KPIs are dynamic in nature and will change in value to reflect any applied filters.
If a range is provided for jobs, investments, or production capacity, the midpoint of that range is used. In the case that a company provides a minimum, for instance, “at least 100 jobs”, we record 100 jobs.
Manufacturing: Data Fields
The Clean Economy Tracker makes all the data collected available for public use under the Open Data Commons Attribution License. This section describes each data field or categorization used in the dashboard and its source.
Investment data refers to the total a company has announced it will invest in a manufacturing facility. The announced investment may include state and federal incentives (i.e. tax incentives or grants) provided to the private manufacturer after they have committed the self-reported amount. This data point only reflects the investment specifically for clean energy or technology manufacturing at the facility. For example, investments for a facility starting to produce components for solar energy production will be counted, but not investments for producing components outside the scope of the manufacturing focus and technology category (see section labeled “Manufacturing Sector”). In the case that a company’s announcement does not contain investment data, we record the available information and leave the investment field blank. Where a company does not specify the amount invested but there is a record of federal grants for the facility, that total is recorded instead.
Job numbers reflect the announced permanent jobs dedicated to clean energy manufacturing at an announced facility. Indirect and temporary job numbers are not included in the dataset. This data point only relates to the clean energy manufacturing at the facility (i.e. we do not count investment at the same facility to produce other outputs or a company headquarters for instance). In the case that we are not able to attribute the output for clean manufacturing at a facility with an announced investment, no jobs number is recorded.
Investments and jobs for facilities are tied to data on congressional districts, currently represented by a Republican or Democratic member in the U.S. House of Representatives. Facilities where an address is not known are excluded. Congressional district data is updated on a monthly basis to reflect any new elections or changes in district boundaries. For more information on the source of the geolocational information, see here.
Facilities are classified as rural or urban depending on their community classification in the U.S. Census. Urban includes areas with a population greater than 2,500, and rural areas or “not urbanized areas” describe anywhere with populations less than 2,500. Where data is unavailable, facilities will be classified as unknown. All classifications are defined based on population density at the census tract and block levels.
An energy community is defined as:
- a metropolitan statistical area or non-metropolitan statistical area that achieves an unemployment rate at or above the national average for the prior year or 0.17 percent or greater direct employment or 25 percent or greater local tax revenues related to pre-combustion activities for coal, oil, and natural gas, or
- a census tract in which a coal mine or coal-fired electric generating unit has been retired in a given time frame
- a brownfield site (not included in the dataset)
Low-income areas are defined as having an average poverty rate of 20 percent or greater, according to the U.S. Census. Classification of low-income communities is at the census tract level and is measured between 2015 and 2019. If the poverty rate estimate has a low reliability and the upper or lower bounds of the adjusted poverty rate would change the poverty status of the estimate, then the census tract is defined as “Not Available”.
Address data is sourced from company statements or press releases. This data is as accurate as possible, though actual addresses may differ as companies update their addresses or mapping programs update. When an address, or discernable coordinates, are not available for a facility, it is marked as “unknown.” A facility is only included in the dataset once the state where it will be sited is known. If a facility location is marked as unknown, it will not surface on the map visuals or the bar graphs on the first tab. However, facilities with unknown locations will surface in the state totals and summary table on the second tab.
The high-level categories for the manufacturing focus at a facility are:
- Batteries: Includes all battery manufacturing for residential, commercial, and industrial energy storage and EVs. The EV batteries category only includes batteries for on-road vehicles, and omits batteries used for other vehicles and machinery (i.e. aircraft, marine, forklifts, RVs/campers, and other applications). This category follows DOE’s battery manufacturing stage categories for component manufacturing, cell and pack manufacturing, and recycling.
- Electric Vehicles: Covers the assembly of on-road, four-wheel EVs, EV charging units (including make ready infrastructure), and other vehicle that parts tied to EV-focused investment announcements. This category excludes battery manufacturing. EV categories focus specifically on components that are produced for EVs (i.e. EV Drive Units). The data does not include facilities producing “fuel-agnostic” components that can be used in either an EV or ICEV (i.e. wheels, doors, etc.).
- Other: Includes Heat Pumps (the production of air source or geothermal heat pumps, water heaters, or assembly components), Hydrogen Electrolyzers (the manufacturing of hydrogen electrolyzers to produce electric hydrogen, and Magnets (assembly and parts).
- Minerals: Includes extraction as well as separation and processing of cobalt, lithium, manganese, graphite, nickel, rare earth elements, and uranium and nuclear fuel. We track approved mining projects that are past the demonstration project or feasibility test phases.
- Solar Energy: Includes the assembly of photovoltaic solar panels and cells, manufacturing of ingots, wafers, and other components of the panels and includes production of solar-grade polysilicon. This category also covers electrical wiring components such as inverters and cables, structural components like trackers and mounting platforms, and recycling facilities.
- Transmission & Grid: Covers production of cables, transformers, and other hardware produced for use in transmission and grid infrastructure. This category should not be confused with transmission and grid infrastructure deployment as it only includes the manufacturing of the materials to support those operations.
- Wind Energy: Includes facilities that manufacture materials for both onshore and offshore wind, designating a facility as onshore only, offshore only, both, or unspecified if it was not indicated in the facility announcement. Covers components including but not limited to turbines, blades, towers, monopiles, nacelles, underwater cables to service offshore wind, gearboxes, bearings, and assembly.
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The date of the facility announcement. If there is no public announcement made via press release or article, and the only available information is the production start year, the announcement date is labeled as January 1st of that year. Dates are only included for announcements made since 2000.
Phase indicates the type of announcement:
- Original: The first announcement of the company establishing a new facility or announcing the start of production at an existing facility.
- Expansion: Announcements that increase the original investment at a facility. Expansions are numbered if more than one exists (i.e., Expansion 1, Expansion 2, etc.).
- Update: Any announcement that indicates a facility has downsized or gone bankrupt, or where there has been any other data update (i.e., production capacity, jobs numbers, etc.). In the case that a facility is canceled or closed it will surface in the data table for reference but will no longer surface anywhere else on the dashboard. Facility data is only updated for permanent or indefinite changes; temporary layoffs or similar announcements will not be surfaced in this dashboard.
Refers to the actual or expected year when the announcement action goes into effect at a facility. This can refer to the start of production or operation, closure effect date, or other type of update.
The announcement operating status is tracked at the time of a facility announcement. After announcements are made, the operating status is tracked and updated if and when the original status changes. The following categories are used to track progress made at a facility. These categories apply to original announcements, expansion announcements, and update announcements:
- Planned: Any facility announcement without physical alteration taking place. The planning phase includes original announcement and siting, permitting and licensing, and any other non-construction actions.
- Under Construction: Any phase of a facility that is currently in the process of new construction or retooling.
- Operational: Any phase of a facility that has commenced production. This also includes extraction and processing facilities for critical minerals that are on standby.
- Canceled: Any facility that has announced a closure or permanent cease of operations (including “indefinite” developments and finalized bankruptcy proceedings). In the update row where the facility is marked as canceled, negative values will be recorded such that the project totals now equal zero. The facility will also be removed from the map and all other linked facility announcements will be marked as Canceled. If a facility was opened and closed before 2000, it will not be included in the data.
For facilities with multiple announcements, the year refers to the actual or expected year when operations at a facility first go into effect.
Each facility includes information on the company (brand or familiar) that operates production, as well as the parent company that owns the brand. If a company is acquired by another company, the name is updated in the data.
Deployment (Clean Electricity): High Level Questions
This dashboard tracks the capacity (in gigawatts) of operating, planned, and canceled electricity generation projects in the United States. Electricity generation technologies that are considered “clean energy” include:
- Batteries
- Biomass (including wood, wood waste, and other waste biomass)
- Geothermal
- Hydroelectric (including conventional hydropower and hydroelectric pumped storage)
- Nuclear
- Onshore and offshore Wind
- Other Clean (including flywheels, hydrokinetic, landfill gas, and municipal solid waste technologies)
- Solar Photovoltaic (PV) and Solar Thermal
Other generator technologies tracked but do not show by default include:
- Fossil & Other Energy (including generators relying on coal, natural gas, and petroleum fuels, as well as other non-renewable fuel sources)
The data include generators with a nameplate capacity over 1 megawatt but do not include residential solar installations. For projects that are planned but not yet operating, the data include projects with an expected operating date within 10 years for coal and nuclear plants and within 5 years for all other types.
The data are updated monthly. The date when the data were last updated will appear on the dashboard.
The data are from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Annual Electric Generator Report (Form EIA-860), for the years that are available. Where annual data is not yet available (there is a delay of approximately 6 months between the end of the year and when the data becomes available), the data is pulled from the EIA Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (Form EIA-860M) which are considered preliminary estimates (i.e., projects reported in one month could be removed or corrected in subsequent releases). Note that there could be delays between when a project is planned (or canceled) by a developer and when the change is reflected in the monthly data. For further information on the data from EIA, see the documentation for EIA-860 and EIA-860M.
At the top of the dashboard, there are 4 KPIs – these KPIs will respond to filters on the page, including status, technology, and time period:
- Operating and Planned Clean Power Capacity (GW): This is the sum of all operating and planned clean power capacity. Clean power refers to the technology types listed under the data scope.
- Operating and Planned Clean Power Generators: This is the count of all individual operating and planned clean power generators.
- Estimated Clean Investment: This is the sum of estimated capital investments to build the clean power capacity.
- Share of Operating and Planned Capacity that’s Clean: This is the percent share of operating and planned clean power generators, out of all types of generators.
- Share of Operating and Planned Clean Capacity in Republican Districts: This is the percent share of operating and planned clean capacity located in districts currently represented by a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The dashboard is interactive by default and allows the user to hover over elements to see more details, click on segments of a chart to cross-filter other charts in the same section, and drill down into areas of interest in certain visuals. Additionally, there is a yellow filter bar on the right side of the dashboard. This allows the user to filter the visuals to view specific information of interest. You can always go back to the default view by clicking the “Reset Filters” button on the top right of each page.
Yes. Hover over a visual and click on the three horizontal dots on the top right corner. Then select “Export data”.
Deployment (Clean Electricity): Data Fields
Electricity generation technologies that are considered “clean energy” include:
- Batteries
- Biomass (including wood, wood waste, and other waste biomass)
- Geothermal
- Hydroelectric (including conventional hydropower and hydroelectric pumped storage)
- Nuclear
- Onshore Wind
- Offshore Wind
- Other Clean (including flywheels, hydrokinetic, landfill gas, and municipal solid waste technologies)
- Solar Photovoltaic (PV)
- Solar Thermal
Other generator technologies tracked but do not show by default include:
- Fossil & Other Energy (including generators relying on coal, natural gas, and petroleum fuels, as well as other non-renewable fuel sources)
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, nameplate capacity refers to the maximum rated output of a generator designated by the manufacturer, expressed in gigawatts (GW).
The location comes from the latitude and longitude provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. On the map, individual generators that are located at the same plant are aggregated by nameplate capacity.
The date refers to the month and year that an operational generator began operating, when a planned generator is expected to begin operating, when a canceled generator was canceled, or when a retired generator was retired, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.
- In Operation
- Operating: Includes projects that have already reached commercial operation and are regularly generating electricity, including peaking units
- Out of service: Includes projects that were not used for most of the year but are expected to eventually be returned to service
- Standby/Backup: Includes projects that are available for service but not normally used throughout the year
- Not in Operation
- Planned: Includes projects with an expected operating date within 10 years for coal and nuclear plants and within 5 years for all other types, but have not yet begun construction
- Construction: Includes projects that have begun or completed construction, but are not yet in commercial operation
- Canceled or Indefinitely Postponed: This includes projects that were canceled or indefinitely postponed before reaching commercial operation
- Retired: Includes projects that reached commercial operation in the past but have since retired
- Other: Includes projects where the owner indicates the status does not fit any of the above categories
This represents the estimated capital expenditure to build each clean generator in 2024 dollars. These values may not correspond to actual past or future investment by project developers but are an approximation. Capital expenditure is estimated by multiplying the nameplate capacity of each project by CAPEX multipliers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory 2024 Annual Technology Baseline, taking into consideration the technology type and operating year. Values are converted to 2024 dollars using Consumer Price Index Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This represents the estimated number of homes that could be powered by each clean generator. These values may not correspond to actual power output by each project and home energy use varies by location. Additionally, not all projects serve loads from homes, but these values approximate how many each could power on average. Homes powered is estimated using the national average capacity factor for each technology from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory 2024 Annual Technology Baseline and national average energy use per home from U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Storage technologies are excluded because they are storing electricity produced by other generators.
This represents the estimated direct jobs that could be supported by each clean generator during the construction phase and operations phase. These values may not correspond to actual past or future jobs at each site but are an approximation. For solar, biomass, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal generators, jobs are estimated using multipliers derived from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (JEDI) models. For battery projects, construction jobs are estimated using a multiplier from a separate National Renewable Energy Laboratory study (operations jobs are not estimated due to lack of adequate data). For nuclear generators, jobs are estimated using multipliers from the Decarbonization Employment and Energy Systems (DEERS) model. Jobs are not estimated for flywheel, landfill gas, or municipal solid waste generators due to lack of data. Construction jobs represent the total full-time equivalent workers (FTEs) required over the entire construction period, which varies by generator type, and operations jobs represent FTEs per year that the project is operating.
Data year refers to the data snapshot as of the end of the indicated year. For example, the data year 2023 includes all plants operating, retired, planned, or canceled as of the end of 2023. The exception is for the current year, where the data year refers to the latest monthly data (as indicated on the timestamp on the dashboard). The earliest data year available is 2016.
This refers to the current congressional district in which each project is located, according to the latitude and longitude provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. Districts are labeled Democratic or Republican based on the representative in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Deployment (EVs and EV Charging): High Level Questions
For EV purchases, the data include new sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in the United States. It also includes a full suite of vehicle types, including passenger vehicles, vans, buses, trucks, and other types of vehicles.
For public chargers, this includes both Level 2 and DC Fast Charge ports installed in the United States.
The dashboard is refreshed on a weekly basis. The underlying data on public chargers is updated on a daily basis, and the underlying data on EV purchases is updated every month.
AFDC updates charging and port data on a rolling basis, and this dashboard is updated daily (on weekdays) through AFDC’s API. For more information about how AFDC collects and updates its data, visit the About section of the Station Locator.
The data for EV purchases are pulled from the Atlas EV Hub Market Dashboard. The underlying data is aggregated from Experian, fueleconomy.gov, and various other websites. For more information on the data sources and processing, see the Atlas EV Hub Market Data Methodology.
The data for public chargers are pulled from the Atlas EV Hub Charging Deployment Dashboard. The underlying data come from the Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC). For more information on the data sources and processing, see the Atlas EV Hub Charging Data Methodology.
At the top of the dashboard, there are 4 KPIs – these KPIs will respond to filters on the page, including location and time period:
- EV Purchases: This is the total of all EVs purchased.
- DC Fast Charging Ports: This is the total number of all public DC fast chargers installed.
- Level 2 Ports: This is the total of all public Level 2 chargers installed.
- Share of DC Fast Charging Ports in Republican Districts: This is the percent share of DC fast chargers installed in a district currently represented by a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The dashboard is interactive by default and allows the user to hover over elements to see more details, click on segments of a chart to cross-filter other charts in the same section, and drill down into areas of interest in certain visuals. Additionally, there is a yellow filter bar on the right side of the dashboard. This allows the user to filter the visuals to view specific information of interest. You can always go back to the default view by clicking the “Reset Filters” button on the top right of each page.
Yes. Hover over a visual and click on the three horizontal dots on the top right corner. Then select “Export data”.
Deployment (EVs and EV Charging): Data Fields
For EV purchases, the location refers to the state in which the EV is registered.
For public chargers, the location comes from the latitude and longitude provided by the underlying Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) data.
For EV purchases, the date refers to the year the vehicle was registered. For public chargers, the date refers to the year that the charger was installed.
This refers to the current congressional district in which each charging site is located, according to the latitude and longitude provided by the Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) data. Districts are labeled Democratic or Republican based on the representative in the U.S. House of Representatives.