IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v133y2019icp44-52.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pleasure is the profit - The adoption of solar PV systems by households in Finland

Author

Listed:
  • Karjalainen, Sami
  • Ahvenniemi, Hannele

Abstract

Decentralized energy production offers households considerable potential to support the attainment of climate targets. This study focuses on solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption in Finland, where the adoption of solar PV systems is still at a low level. The study asks how adopters have overcome the barriers to adopting solar PV systems. A special interest lies in the user experience of solar PV systems. Twenty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain an understanding of the experiences of Finnish pioneer households. The results show that the adopters have overcome the barriers to adoption with the help of trustworthy information and advice from experts and from other adopters. The adopters are very satisfied with their PV plants even though economic profitability is not particularly good. The adopters actively monitor their energy production and are highly engaged in domestic energy matters. Many have enlarged their solar PV system or plan to do so, or are highly interested in upgrading their energy system with an electric car or advanced home automation. The adopters find pleasure in producing pollution-free energy effortlessly and being able to deliver information about clean energy production to others through their own installations.

Suggested Citation

  • Karjalainen, Sami & Ahvenniemi, Hannele, 2019. "Pleasure is the profit - The adoption of solar PV systems by households in Finland," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 44-52.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:133:y:2019:i:c:p:44-52
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2018.10.011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148118311959
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2018.10.011?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keirstead, James, 2007. "Behavioural responses to photovoltaic systems in the UK domestic sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 4128-4141, August.
    2. Sarzynski, Andrea & Larrieu, Jeremy & Shrimali, Gireesh, 2012. "The impact of state financial incentives on market deployment of solar technology," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 550-557.
    3. Kwan, Calvin Lee, 2012. "Influence of local environmental, social, economic and political variables on the spatial distribution of residential solar PV arrays across the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 332-344.
    4. Rai, Varun & Reeves, D. Cale & Margolis, Robert, 2016. "Overcoming barriers and uncertainties in the adoption of residential solar PV," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 498-505.
    5. Korcaj, Liridon & Hahnel, Ulf J.J. & Spada, Hans, 2015. "Intentions to adopt photovoltaic systems depend on homeowners' expected personal gains and behavior of peers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 407-415.
    6. Leenheer, Jorna & de Nooij, Michiel & Sheikh, Omer, 2011. "Own power: Motives of having electricity without the energy company," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 5621-5629, September.
    7. Jager, Wander, 2006. "Stimulating the diffusion of photovoltaic systems: A behavioural perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(14), pages 1935-1943, September.
    8. Mahapatra, Krushna & Gustavsson, Leif, 2008. "An adopter-centric approach to analyze the diffusion patterns of innovative residential heating systems in Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 577-590, February.
    9. Heiskanen, Eva & Matschoss, Kaisa, 2017. "Understanding the uneven diffusion of building-scale renewable energy systems: A review of household, local and country level factors in diverse European countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 580-591.
    10. Zhang, Xiaoling & Shen, Liyin & Chan, Sum Yee, 2012. "The diffusion of solar energy use in HK: What are the barriers?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 241-249.
    11. Karakaya, Emrah & Sriwannawit, Pranpreya, 2015. "Barriers to the adoption of photovoltaic systems: The state of the art," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 60-66.
    12. Balcombe, Paul & Rigby, Dan & Azapagic, Adisa, 2013. "Motivations and barriers associated with adopting microgeneration energy technologies in the UK," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 655-666.
    13. Bryan Bollinger & Kenneth Gillingham, 2012. "Peer Effects in the Diffusion of Solar Photovoltaic Panels," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(6), pages 900-912, November.
    14. Balcombe, Paul & Rigby, Dan & Azapagic, Adisa, 2014. "Investigating the importance of motivations and barriers related to microgeneration uptake in the UK," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 403-418.
    15. Yuan, Xueliang & Zuo, Jian & Ma, Chunyuan, 2011. "Social acceptance of solar energy technologies in China--End users' perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1031-1036, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Palm, A., 2020. "Early adopters and their motives: Differences between earlier and later adopters of residential solar photovoltaics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    2. Shali Wang & Jiaxi Wu & Yunan Peng & Jane Xu & Lisa Leinonen & Yuyu Wang & Zheng Meng, 2022. "Influence of Residential Photovoltaic Promotion Policy on Installation Intention in Typical Regions of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-30, July.
    3. Wang, Chaofan & Wang, Yilan & Zhao, Yujia & Shuai, Jing & Shuai, Chuanmin & Cheng, Xin, 2023. "Cognition process and influencing factors of rural residents' adoption willingness for solar PV poverty alleviation projects: Evidence from a mixed methodology in rural China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    4. Mohammed Albattah & Daniel Efurosibina Attoye, 2021. "A Quantitative Investigation on Awareness of Renewable Energy Building Technology in the United Arab Emirates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-20, June.
    5. Palm, Alvar & Lantz, Björn, 2020. "Information dissemination and residential solar PV adoption rates: The effect of an information campaign in Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    6. Diallo, Arouna & Moussa, Richard K., 2020. "The effects of solar home system on welfare in off-grid areas: Evidence from Côte d’Ivoire," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    7. Mignon, Ingrid & Winberg, Lisa, 2023. "The role of public energy advising in sustainability transitions – empirical evidence from Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    8. Shimada, Hideki & Honda, Tomonori, 2022. "What drives households’ choices of residential solar photovoltaic capacity?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    9. Wu, Jingwen & Qi, Yiyun & Guan, Xinyi & Wu, Xiaomin & Li, Hui, 2024. "Farmers’ attitudes and adoption preferences toward household solar photovoltaics: A survey from Guangdong Province in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    10. Familia, Thomas & Horne, Christine, 2022. "Customer trust in their utility company and interest in household-level battery storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    11. B. Igliński & M. Skrzatek & W. Kujawski & M. Cichosz & R. Buczkowski, 2022. "SWOT analysis of renewable energy sector in Mazowieckie Voivodeship (Poland): current progress, prospects and policy implications," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 77-111, January.
    12. Alipour, M. & Irannezhad, Elnaz & Stewart, Rodney A. & Sahin, Oz, 2022. "Exploring residential solar PV and battery energy storage adoption motivations and barriers in a mature PV market," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 684-698.
    13. Juha Koskela & Antti Mutanen & Pertti Järventausta, 2020. "Using Load Forecasting to Control Domestic Battery Energy Storage Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-20, August.
    14. Marko Milojević & Paweł Nowodziński & Ivica Terzić & Svetlana Danshina, 2021. "Households’ Energy Autonomy: Risks or Benefits for a State?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, April.
    15. Murto, Pekka & Jalas, Mikko & Juntunen, Jouni & Hyysalo, Sampsa, 2019. "The difficult process of adopting a comprehensive energy retrofit in housing companies: Barriers posed by nascent markets and complicated calculability," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 955-964.
    16. Evangelos Panos & Stavroula Margelou, 2019. "Long-Term Solar Photovoltaics Penetration in Single- and Two-Family Houses in Switzerland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-33, June.
    17. Gaigalis, Vygandas & Katinas, Vladislovas, 2020. "Analysis of the renewable energy implementation and prediction prospects in compliance with the EU policy: A case of Lithuania," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 1016-1027.
    18. Wichsinee Wibulpolprasert & Umnouy Ponsukcharoen & Siripha Junlakarn & Sopitsuda Tongsopit, 2021. "Preliminarily Screening Geographical Hotspots for New Rooftop PV Installation: A Case Study in Thailand," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-30, June.
    19. Alipour, M. & Salim, H. & Stewart, Rodney A. & Sahin, Oz, 2020. "Predictors, taxonomy of predictors, and correlations of predictors with the decision behaviour of residential solar photovoltaics adoption: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    20. Jouttijärvi, Sami & Lobaccaro, Gabriele & Kamppinen, Aleksi & Miettunen, Kati, 2022. "Benefits of bifacial solar cells combined with low voltage power grids at high latitudes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    21. Murto, P. & Jalas, M. & Juntunen, J. & Hyysalo, S., 2019. "Devices and strategies: An analysis of managing complexity in energy retrofit projects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hansen, Anders Rhiger & Jacobsen, Mette Hove & Gram-Hanssen, Kirsten, 2022. "Characterizing the Danish energy prosumer: Who buys solar PV systems and why do they buy them?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Alipour, M. & Salim, H. & Stewart, Rodney A. & Sahin, Oz, 2020. "Predictors, taxonomy of predictors, and correlations of predictors with the decision behaviour of residential solar photovoltaics adoption: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    3. Heiskanen, Eva & Matschoss, Kaisa, 2017. "Understanding the uneven diffusion of building-scale renewable energy systems: A review of household, local and country level factors in diverse European countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 580-591.
    4. Palm, A., 2020. "Early adopters and their motives: Differences between earlier and later adopters of residential solar photovoltaics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    5. Palm, Alvar & Lantz, Björn, 2020. "Information dissemination and residential solar PV adoption rates: The effect of an information campaign in Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    6. Natália Gava Gastaldo & Graciele Rediske & Paula Donaduzzi Rigo & Carmen Brum Rosa & Leandro Michels & Julio Cezar Mairesse Siluk, 2019. "What is the Profile of the Investor in Household Solar Photovoltaic Energy Systems?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-18, November.
    7. Hackbarth, André, 2018. "Attitudes, preferences, and intentions of German households concerning participation in peer-to-peer electricity trading," Reutlingen Working Papers on Marketing & Management 2019-2, Reutlingen University, ESB Business School.
    8. Chelsea Schelly & James C. Letzelter, 2020. "Examining the Key Drivers of Residential Solar Adoption in Upstate New York," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-13, March.
    9. Fabian Scheller & Isabel Doser & Daniel Sloot & Russell McKenna & Thomas Bruckner, 2020. "Exploring the Role of Stakeholder Dynamics in Residential Photovoltaic Adoption Decisions: A Synthesis of the Literature," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-31, November.
    10. Balcombe, Paul & Rigby, Dan & Azapagic, Adisa, 2014. "Investigating the importance of motivations and barriers related to microgeneration uptake in the UK," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 403-418.
    11. Felipe Moraes do Nascimento & Julio Cezar Mairesse Siluk & Fernando de Souza Savian & Taís Bisognin Garlet & José Renes Pinheiro & Carlos Ramos, 2020. "Factors for Measuring Photovoltaic Adoption from the Perspective of Operators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-29, April.
    12. Zander, Kerstin K., 2020. "Unrealised opportunities for residential solar panels in Australia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    13. Garlet, Taís Bisognin & Ribeiro, José Luis Duarte & de Souza Savian, Fernando & Mairesse Siluk, Julio Cezar, 2019. "Paths and barriers to the diffusion of distributed generation of photovoltaic energy in southern Brazil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 157-169.
    14. Collier, Samuel H.C. & House, Jo I. & Connor, Peter M. & Harris, Richard, 2023. "Distributed local energy: Assessing the determinants of domestic-scale solar photovoltaic uptake at the local level across England and Wales," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    15. Hackbarth, André & Löbbe, Sabine, 2020. "Attitudes, preferences, and intentions of German households concerning participation in peer-to-peer electricity trading," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    16. José Ángel Gimeno & Eva Llera & Sabina Scarpellini, 2018. "Investment Determinants in Self-Consumption Facilities: Characterization and Qualitative Analysis in Spain," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-24, August.
    17. Esplin, Ryan & Nelson, Tim, 2022. "Redirecting solar feed in tariffs to residential battery storage: Would it be worth it?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 373-389.
    18. Strazzera, Elisabetta & Meleddu, Daniela & Contu, Davide & Fornara, Ferdinando, 2024. "Willingness to pay for innovative heating/cooling systems: A comprehensive appraisal of drivers and barriers to adoption in Ireland and Italy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    19. Paul Simshauser & Tim Nelson & Joel Gilmore, 2022. "The sunshine state: implications from mass rooftop solar PV take-up rates in Queensland," Working Papers EPRG2219, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    20. Shimada, Hideki & Honda, Tomonori, 2022. "What drives households’ choices of residential solar photovoltaic capacity?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:133:y:2019:i:c:p:44-52. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.