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The impact of policies and business models on income equity in rooftop solar adoption

Author

Listed:
  • Eric O’Shaughnessy

    (Clean Kilowatts)

  • Galen Barbose

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Ryan Wiser

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Sydney Forrester

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Naïm Darghouth

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Abstract

Low- and moderate-income (LMI) households are less likely to adopt rooftop solar photovoltaics (PVs) than higher-income households in the United States. As the existing literature has shown, this dynamic can decelerate rooftop PV deployment and has potential energy justice implications, in light of the cost-shifting between PV and non-PV households that can occur under typical rate structures and incentive programmes. Here we show that some state policy interventions and business models have expanded PV adoption among LMI households. We find evidence that LMI-specific financial incentives, PV leasing and property-assessed financing have increased the diffusion of PV adoption among LMI households in existing markets and have driven more installations into previously underserved low-income communities. By shifting deployment patterns, we posit that these interventions could catalyse peer effects to increase PV adoption in low-income communities even among households that do not directly benefit from the interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric O’Shaughnessy & Galen Barbose & Ryan Wiser & Sydney Forrester & Naïm Darghouth, 2021. "The impact of policies and business models on income equity in rooftop solar adoption," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 84-91, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:6:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41560-020-00724-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41560-020-00724-2
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Vona, Francesco, 2023. "Managing the distributional effects of climate policies: A narrow path to a just transition," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    2. Hossein Heirani & Naser Bagheri Moghaddam & Sina Labbafi & Seyedali Sina, 2022. "A Business Model for Developing Distributed Photovoltaic Systems in Iran," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-21, September.
    3. Ke, Jing & Khanna, Nina & Zhou, Nan, 2022. "Indirect estimation of willingness to pay for energy technology adoption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    4. Rahdan, Parisa & Zeyen, Elisabeth & Gallego-Castillo, Cristobal & Victoria, Marta, 2024. "Distributed photovoltaics provides key benefits for a highly renewable European energy system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 360(C).
    5. Brown, David P. & Muehlenbachs, Lucija, 2023. "The Value of Electricity Reliability: Evidence from Battery Adoption," Working Papers 2023-5, University of Alberta, Department of Economics, revised 26 Jul 2024.
    6. Sommerfeldt, Nelson & Pearce, Joshua M., 2023. "Can grid-tied solar photovoltaics lead to residential heating electrification? A techno-economic case study in the midwestern U.S," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    7. Best, Rohan & Marrone, Mauricio & Linnenluecke, Martina, 2023. "Meta-analysis of the role of equity dimensions in household solar panel adoption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    8. O'Shaughnessy, Eric & Grayson, Alexandra & Barbose, Galen, 2023. "The role of peer influence in rooftop solar adoption inequity in the United States," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    9. Sommerfeldt, Nelson & Lemoine, Ida & Madani, Hatef, 2022. "Hide and seek: The supply and demand of information for household solar photovoltaic investment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    10. Best, Rohan & Chareunsy, Andrea, 2022. "The impact of income on household solar panel uptake: Exploring diverse results using Australian data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    11. Arifa Tanveer & Shihong Zeng & Muhammad Irfan & Rui Peng, 2021. "Do Perceived Risk, Perception of Self-Efficacy, and Openness to Technology Matter for Solar PV Adoption? An Application of the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-24, August.
    12. Heleno, Miguel & Sigrin, Benjamin & Popovich, Natalie & Heeter, Jenny & Jain Figueroa, Anjuli & Reiner, Michael & Reames, Tony, 2022. "Optimizing equity in energy policy interventions: A quantitative decision-support framework for energy justice," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    13. Brown, David P. & Muehlenbachs, Lucija, 2024. "The value of electricity reliability: Evidence from battery adoption," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    14. Sermarini, Anna Carolina de Paula & Azevedo, João Henrique Paulino & Albuquerque, Vanessa Cardoso de & Calili, Rodrigo Flora & Gonçalves, Felipe & Jannuzzi, Gilberto, 2024. "Distributed energy resources in low-income communities: A public policy proposal for Brazil," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    15. O'Shaughnessy, Eric, 2022. "Rooftop solar incentives remain effective for low- and moderate-income adoption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    16. John Bistlinea & Chikara Onda & Morgan Browning & Johannes Emmerling & Gokul Iyer & Megan Mahajan & Jim McFarland & Haewon McJeon & Robbie Orvis & Francisco Ralston Fonseca & Christopher Roney & Noah , 2024. "Equity Implications of Net-Zero Emissions: A Multi-Model Analysis of Energy Expenditures Across Income Classes Under Economy-Wide Deep Decarbonization Policies," Papers 2405.18748, arXiv.org.
    17. Shittu, Ekundayo & Weigelt, Carmen, 2022. "Accessibility in sustainability transitions: U.S. electric utilities’ deployment of solar," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).

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