The Social Acceptance of Community Solar
Overview
Company: Portland State University & Portland General Electric
Role: M.S. candidate (graduate student)
Methods: online & paper surveys, door-to-door recruitment, in-depth interviews, quantitative analyses (regression, factor)
Skills: survey design, survey recruitment, interviewing, quantitative data analysis, synthesis & writing
Tools: Qualtrics, R, Excel, PPT
Deliverables: thesis report & slide deck
Impact: forecasted residential awareness & interest in upcoming renewable energy option for local utility; economic and marketing recommendations to improve adoption likelihood
A passion for climate change mitigation and fascination with renewable energy led me to develop my graduate thesis dissertation on the timely topic of community solar. I wanted to explore Portland residents’ awareness of community solar and willingness-to-participate to predict future enrollment, as Oregon had just passed a bill that would allow utilities to develop such programs.
I conducted in-depth interviews with local subject matter experts to gather insight into the renewable energy landscape and designed a web survey for Portland residents. I hired a research team to help me distribute and recruit respondents. I found that the economic benefits of enrolling in a community solar project were the strongest influencers of potential participation.
Awareness among Portland residents was low, but interest was high; outreach will be important in educating residents about the financial and environmental advantages of enrollment in community solar.
Research Objectives
Forecast intent to adopt community solar.
Predict potential market acceptance in Portland.
Research Questions
Can local initiatives, e.g. renewable energy policies, be translated into a successful market acceptance given very low familiarity among consumers?
What are the impacts of project features, designs, and demographic factors on Portland residents’ willingness to participate in community solar projects?
Which of these features will enhance the perceived benefits of community solar enrollment?
Hypotheses
Community solar can be successfully adopted by Portland residents through the implementation of advantageous policies, program features, and economic benefits.
Portlanders will likely have an overall positive and welcoming perception of renewable energy, which will help accelerate the adoption of community solar.
Approach
In-depth interviews with informants from environmental nonprofits, governmental institutions, solar companies, and community solar developers to collect information and insight about community solar and the local renewable energy landscape.
A paper and web survey for Portland residents to collect data on awareness of and attitudes towards general energy, solar energy, community solar, climate change, and demographics.
I included a battery of willingness-to-participate questions, where respondents were asked to rate their likelihood to join 3 hypothetical community solar projects with varying factors.
Project 1 was a small and local community solar array located on a vacant lot in the city limits of Portland; the upfront cost to join was high.
Project 2 was a medium-sized community solar project located in the Willamette Valley, outside of Portland. The cost to join was moderate.
Project 3 was a large solar array located in Eastern Oregon that included an affordable upfront cost to buy in.
Sampling & Recruitment
To obtain a representative sample of Portland residents, I decided to use a Portland “neighborhood” approach to sampling: I randomly selected 14 of Portland’s neighborhoods. Within each neighborhood, I used Google maps to identify and number streets; I then randomly selected 5 streets in each neighborhood and 15 residences on each street. I recruited a total of 1,050 residences in my survey.
I utilized a modified “Drop-off/Pick-up” method for the first 2 rounds of recruitment: I hired a research team of graduate students to help me distribute paper surveys and door-hangers to residences in-person. I revisited residences to pick up completed paper surveys.
For the last two rounds I recruitment, I mailed survey packets and postcards to residences to further boost response rates. Respondents had the option to complete the paper survey or follow a link to take the survey online.
Analyses
I used Excel and R to conduct:
Descriptive statistics
Exploratory factor analysis to create aggregated response variables for logistic regression analysis
Binomial logistic regression models to predict willingness-to-participate in community solar and variables that will negatively/positively influence participation
Key Findings
Respondents revealed low familiarity with community solar, as well as other solar options.
Respondents reported lack of awareness, concerns of reliability, and high costs as prominent barriers to moving forward with a home solar system. A relatively high proportion of respondents were neutral across many of the barriers.
Respondents have a higher willingness to participate (WTP) in community solar if there is at least a 10% decrease in their monthly utility bill resulting from a bill credit and the upfront cost to buy into the project is affordable (Project 3). WTP is higher if the return-on-investment from bill savings makes community solar participation financially worthwhile.
Some other notable findings:
My logistic regression model revealed some variables had a positive influence in predicting respondents’ willingness to participate in a community solar project, while others had a negative influence. Project economics, liberal political views, previous membership within an environmental organization, or enrollment in a green utility program all had a positive influence. Willingness to participate in community solar decreased in the logistic regression model if the monthly utility bill was likely to increase or if the solar project scenario was expensive upfront and small in size (meaning it was located close to the consumer in Portland).
I found that observability may not be an important attribute of community solar; consumers don’t care about seeing the community solar project close by. The “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY) theory may take precedence for renewable energy infrastructure.
In my other regression model, I discovered that respondents’ attitudes and behaviors towards energy may drive intent to participate in community solar. Consumers that possess these attributes may be the earliest adopters of community solar:
An overall positive attitude towards renewable energy – a belief that it’s environmentally beneficial.
Familiarity with owning solar panels or experience enrolling in an opt-in green utility program.
Knowledge of community solar or local climate change policies and plans.
I also found that some attitudes of consumers may inhibit intent to participate in community solar
An overall negative attitude towards renewable energy – a belief that it’s unnecessary or too expensive
A belief that home solar is economically burdensome or unreliable
A belief that climate change is not serious
Takeaways
Economic motivators will likely be the driving forces behind the market acceptance of community solar in Portland.
Mass market acceptance of community solar depends on the ease and affordability of participation. The economic costs and benefits are the most important determinants of adoption.
To maximize the economic benefit of participation, a high monthly utility bill credit provided as a result of buying into community solar could act as a financial incentive for the consumer.
Preferences for community solar likely won’t be fully realized until consumers have true market experience.
Educating the public about community solar and disseminating information about the economic advantages of community solar enrollment, with some environmental highlights, could make community solar the enabling tool needed to increase the utilization of solar energy in Portland, as well as the proportion of renewable energy in the utility grid.