It takes a village: The role of community attributes in shaping solar photovoltaic adoption intention in Germany

Karyn Morrissey and Fabian Scheller

Renewable Energy, 2024, vol. 237, issue PA

Abstract: The shared attributes, attitudes, and beliefs of communities can either act as a catalyst or a barrier to the adoption of pro-environmental behaviours such as the adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV). Using a multilevel mixed-effect modelling approach on survey data from 1800 German homeowners, we examine how individual/household and objective community attributes and their interplay shape the intention to adopt solar PV. Research findings indicate that a significant explanation of intention to adopt solar PV is related to unobserved community characteristics (13 %); with community level covariates including a proxy for spatial peer effects explains 8 % of this variance. Testing for spatial peer effects via a cross-level interaction, our findings suggest that a higher diffusion rate of PV installations in a community can positively influence intention to adopt Solar PV for households who on average have a low intention to adopt. Understanding the degree that individual versus area-based effects impact intention to adopt can provide policymakers with a framework to develop policies to incentivize the uptake of Solar PV among traditionally “hard-to-convince” population groups at the local level.

Keywords: Solar photovoltaic adoption intention; Multilevel modelling; Spatial peer effects; “Hard-to-convince” population groups (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:237:y:2024:i:pa:s0960148124016100

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2024.121542

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