IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v218y2023ics0960148123012090.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of large scale photovoltaic-based projects on poverty reduction: Empirical evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • He, Jing
  • Ren, Fu
  • Weibel, Robert
  • Fu, Cheng

Abstract

As a high-quality clean energy, exploring the benefits of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects on regional economy and sustainable development will challenge its development at the policy and planning levels, which also involves two key goals in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations: poverty reduction and clean energy provision. To address this problem, we take China's Photovoltaic Poverty Alleviation Project (PPAP) as an example to empirically study the benefits of large-scale PV deployment for alleviating poverty in its multiple dimensions and achieving regional sustainable development. We investigated its effect using a panel dataset of 71 pilot counties supported by PPAP in China from 2014 to 2017, with propensity score matching and difference-in-difference estimation as the main modeling tools. We found that PPAP can reduce multidimensional poverty on average by 3.0% in a county, benefiting sustainable livelihoods. In detail regarding multidimensional poverty alleviation, PPAP can effectively reduce the poverty level of economic capital, social capital, and human capital. However, it has a limited impact on physical and natural capital. Besides, state-designated poverty counties benefit more from PPAP than the non-poverty counties. Geographically, the poverty reduction effect of PPAP also shows strong regional heterogeneity, with the most substantial poverty alleviation effect in Northwest China. Our research will enhance the public's understanding of PPAP, promote the realization of Goal 1 on poverty reduction and Goal 7 on affordable and clean energy in SDGs, and provide a reference for policymakers for future decision-making, as well as for large-scale PV project deployment in other developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • He, Jing & Ren, Fu & Weibel, Robert & Fu, Cheng, 2023. "The effect of large scale photovoltaic-based projects on poverty reduction: Empirical evidence from China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:218:y:2023:i:c:s0960148123012090
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2023.119294
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148123012090
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2023.119294?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. Wang, Chaofan & Shuai, Jing & Ding, Liping & Lu, Yang & Chen, Jia, 2022. "Comprehensive benefit evaluation of solar PV projects based on multi-criteria decision grey relation projection method: Evidence from 5 counties in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PB).
    2. Philipp Blechinger, 2018. "Lights that stay on," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(11), pages 919-920, November.
    3. Mohan, Gretta & Longo, Alberto & Kee, Frank, 2018. "The effect of area based urban regeneration policies on fuel poverty: Evidence from a natural experiment in Northern Ireland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 609-618.
    4. Huaping Sun & Rehmat Ullah Awan & Muhammad Atif Nawaz & Muhammad Mohsin & Abdul Khaliq Rasheed & Nadeem Iqbal, 2021. "Assessing the socio-economic viability of solar commercialization and electrification in south Asian countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 9875-9897, July.
    5. Alkire, Sabina & Seth, Suman, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Reduction in India between 1999 and 2006: Where and How?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 93-108.
    6. Sen, Amartya K, 1976. "Poverty: An Ordinal Approach to Measurement," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(2), pages 219-231, March.
    7. Faakhar Raza & Muhammad Tamoor & Sajjad Miran & Waseem Arif & Tayybah Kiren & Waseem Amjad & Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain & Gwi-Hyun Lee, 2022. "The Socio-Economic Impact of Using Photovoltaic (PV) Energy for High-Efficiency Irrigation Systems: A Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, February.
    8. Nagatomo, Yu & Ozawa, Akito & Kudoh, Yuki & Hondo, Hiroki, 2021. "Impacts of employment in power generation on renewable-based energy systems in Japan— Analysis using an energy system model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    9. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 476-487.
    10. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra E. Todd, 1997. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(4), pages 605-654.
    11. Walch, Alina & Castello, Roberto & Mohajeri, Nahid & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis, 2020. "Big data mining for the estimation of hourly rooftop photovoltaic potential and its uncertainty," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    12. Liu, Jing & Huang, Fubin & Wang, Zihan & Shuai, Chuanmin, 2021. "What is the anti-poverty effect of solar PV poverty alleviation projects? Evidence from rural China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    13. Zhixi Xu & Zhongliang Cai & Shufan Wu & Xinran Huang & Ji Liu & Junying Sun & Shiliang Su & Min Weng, 2019. "Identifying the Geographic Indicators of Poverty Using Geographically Weighted Regression: A Case Study from Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou, China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 947-970, April.
    14. Li, Yan & Zhang, Qi & Wang, Ge & McLellan, Benjamin & Liu, Xue Fei & Wang, Le, 2018. "A review of photovoltaic poverty alleviation projects in China: Current status, challenge and policy recommendations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 214-223.
    15. Zaohong Liu & Zhangzejun Jiang & Chen Xu & Guanjun Cai & Jian Zhan, 2021. "Assessment of provincial waterlogging risk based on entropy weight TOPSIS–PCA method," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 108(2), pages 1545-1567, September.
    16. Reid Detchon & Richenda Van Leeuwen, 2014. "Policy: Bring sustainable energy to the developing world," Nature, Nature, vol. 508(7496), pages 309-311, April.
    17. He, Yongxiu & Che, Yiran & Lyu, Yuan & Lu, Ye & Zhang, Yan, 2022. "Social benefit evaluation of China's photovoltaic poverty alleviation project," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 1065-1081.
    18. Christopher Yeh & Anthony Perez & Anne Driscoll & George Azzari & Zhongyi Tang & David Lobell & Stefano Ermon & Marshall Burke, 2020. "Using publicly available satellite imagery and deep learning to understand economic well-being in Africa," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    19. Zhang, Sufang & Chen, Yang & Liu, Xiaoli & Yang, Mengshi & Xu, Liang, 2017. "Employment effects of solar PV industry in China: A spreadsheet-based analytical model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 59-65.
    20. Huiming Zhang & Kai Wu & Yueming Qiu & Gabriel Chan & Shouyang Wang & Dequn Zhou & Xianqiang Ren, 2020. "Solar photovoltaic interventions have reduced rural poverty in China," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    21. Shahsavari, Amir & Akbari, Morteza, 2018. "Potential of solar energy in developing countries for reducing energy-related emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 275-291.
    22. Gao, Xue & Zhou, Shan, 2022. "Solar adoption inequality in the U.S.: Trend, magnitude, and solar justice policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    23. Han, Mengyao & Xiong, Jiao & Wang, Siyuan & Yang, Yu, 2020. "Chinese photovoltaic poverty alleviation: Geographic distribution, economic benefits and emission mitigation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Li, Yunwei & Chen, Kui & Ding, Ruixin & Zhang, Jing & Hao, Yu, 2023. "How do photovoltaic poverty alleviation projects relieve household energy poverty? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    2. Zhang, Zumeng & Ding, Liping & Wang, Chaofan & Dai, Qiyao & Shi, Yin & Zhao, Yujia & Zhu, Yuxuan, 2022. "Do operation and maintenance contracts help photovoltaic poverty alleviation power stations perform better?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    3. Yin, Hui & Zhou, Kaile, 2022. "Performance evaluation of China's photovoltaic poverty alleviation project using machine learning and satellite images," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. 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).
    5. Li, Jiaxin & Peng, Jiachao & Shuai, Chuanmin & Wang, Zihan & Huang, Fubin & Khayyam, Muhammad, 2022. "Does the solar PV program enhance the social empowerment of China's rural poor?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    6. Ding, Liping & Zhang, Zumeng & Dai, Qiyao & Zhu, Yuxuan & Shi, Yin, 2023. "Alternative operational modes for Chinese PV poverty alleviation power stations: Economic impacts on stakeholders," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Song, Chenchen & Guo, Zhiling & Liu, Zhengguang & Hongyun, Zhang & Liu, Ran & Zhang, Haoran, 2024. "Application of photovoltaics on different types of land in China: Opportunities, status and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    8. Su, Xiaoning & Liu, Pengfei & Mei, Yingdan & Chen, Jiaru, 2023. "The role of rural cooperatives in the development of rural household photovoltaics: An evolutionary game study," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    9. Wei Zou & Xiaopei Cheng & Zengzeng Fan & Wenxi Yin, 2023. "Multidimensional Relative Poverty in China: Identification and Decomposition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-27, March.
    10. Sabina Alkire & Suman Seth, 2015. "Identifying destitution through linked subsets of multidimensionally poor: An ordinal approach," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-151, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Xiao, Han & Song, Feng & Zheng, Xinye & Chen, Jiaying, 2023. "Community-based energy revolution: An evaluation of China's photovoltaic poverty alleviation Program's economic and social benefits," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    12. Shabana Mitra, 2018. "Re-Assessing “trickle-down” Using a Multidimensional Criteria: The Case of India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 497-515, April.
    13. Alkire, Sabina & Oldiges, Christian & Kanagaratnam, Usha, 2021. "Examining multidimensional poverty reduction in India 2005/6–2015/16: Insights and oversights of the headcount ratio," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    14. Miraj Ahmed Bhuiyan & Zhihui Liu & Fanqiang Meng, 2023. "Multi-period Analysis and Household Registration Differences of Multidimensional Poverty Among Migrant Workers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 671-696, September.
    15. Guo, Junping & Qu, Song & Zhu, Tiehui, 2022. "Estimating China’s relative and multidimensional Poverty: Evidence from micro-level data of 6145 rural households," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    16. Liu, Yue & Shuai, Chuanmin & Zhou, Huimin, 2017. "How to identify poor immigrants? - An empirical study of the Three Gorges Reservoir in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 311-326.
    17. Wang, Chaofan & Shuai, Jing & Ding, Liping & Lu, Yang & Chen, Jia, 2022. "Comprehensive benefit evaluation of solar PV projects based on multi-criteria decision grey relation projection method: Evidence from 5 counties in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PB).
    18. Roberto Angulo, 2016. "From Multidimensional Poverty Measurement to Multisector Public Policy for Poverty Reduction: Lessons from the Colombian Case," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp102_1.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    19. He, Yongxiu & Che, Yiran & Lyu, Yuan & Lu, Ye & Zhang, Yan, 2022. "Social benefit evaluation of China's photovoltaic poverty alleviation project," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 1065-1081.
    20. Sabina Alkire and Suman Seth, 2016. "Identifying Destitution through Linked Subsets of Multidimensionally Poor: An Ordinal Approach," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp099.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.

    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:218:y:2023:i:c:s0960148123012090. 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.