Measuring Public Acceptance Value of Rural Biogas Development through Logistic Regression and Willingness to Pay

The development of renewable energy technologies (RETs) in rural areas requires acceptance of technical solutions by key stakeholders, such as consumers and decision-makers, as well as energy providers. This study aims to identify the current status of public acceptance of RETs, especially biogas technology, the associated influencing factors, and the villager's preference of role to biogas management. Questionnaires were distributed to the respondents in Bendosari village to collect the required data for logistic regression and measurement of willingness to pay (WTP). Bidding game format was used to assess the WTP of three different groups, that is, biogas farmer, non-biogas farmers, and non-farmers. Three regression models were generated from the analysis, describing the factors influencing the public acceptance of each group toward biogas technology. The determinants of one group differed from the other group, reflecting the customer behavior in deciding toward certain goods which is biogas technology in this case. Measurement of public acceptance in percentage indicates the high acceptance and low acceptance of biogas technology for biogas farmers and for other two groups, respectively. This is affirmed by the result of the WTP-ATP comparison where WTP is lower than ATP and indicates that biogas technology has no important value for most non-biogas farmers and non-farmers. Furthermore, the preference of role as a consumer in biogas technology development is higher than as provider or co-provider. Biogas technology in rural areas is more sustainable when most farmers have roles as a co-provider.