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

Jing He, Fu Ren, Robert Weibel and Cheng Fu

Renewable Energy, 2023, vol. 218, issue C

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.

Keywords: Photovoltaic poverty alleviation project (PPAP); Multidimensional poverty; Anti-poverty effect; Sustainable development; Propensity score matching and difference-in-difference estimation (PSM-DID) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148123012090
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:218:y:2023:i:c:s0960148123012090

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2023.119294

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().