Nudging for the increased adoption of solar energy? Evidence from a survey in Italy

Abstract

The sun is a shining star in the emerging low-carbon society, providing bright solutions to mitigate climate change. This perspective article presents the results of an online survey that investigated peoples’ willingness to reshape their intraday energy use to both reduce energy consumption (especially from fossil fuel sources) and maximize green energy self-consumption. Respondents identified self-consumption as a key factor in reducing their energy bill. More generally, respondents’ consumption choices appeared largely driven by economic incentives. Hence, the introduction of a bonus for self-consumed energy may enhance the development of photovoltaic systems. From the results a bonus of 4 cent€/kWh and a green premium of 10 cent€/kWh come out. These findings could assist policy makers in forging policy actions based on a mix of monetary and non-monetary incentives to support the development of decentralized energy systems.

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic – and its associated periods of prolonged lockdown – has given rise to a profound socio-economic crisis. This situation calls for the introduction of bold policy measures to promote a green recovery. At the same time, climate activism has underlined the urgent need for responses to the environmental crisis.

Households are responsible for 72% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a quarter of total energy consumption is attributable to households in Europe [1]. Energy-related CO₂ emissions have risen by 1% per year on average since 2010, but energy investments must be aligned with the Paris Agreement. In this green transition, renewables can drive a broad socio-economic development [2] and, among several countries, the European Union (EU) has an ambitious goal to be climate-neutral by 2050. For this scope, solar PV and wind are already the cheapest source of electricity in several markets and will be further more cost competitive within the next decade [3], [4].

Within science and technology studies, researchers are increasingly seeking to assess the effectiveness of policy tools aimed at promoting a sustainability transition. Such policy tools may act on either social or technological levers, or both [5]. In this regard, solar photovoltaic (PV) has been identified as a form of energy that can not only help consumers contribute to tackling climate change, but also enable them to achieve significant economic profits. In fact, the profitability of solar PV is dependent on the local production of energy [6], [7], with increased self-consumption pushing users to take more responsible environmental choices, such as opposing subsidies assigned to fossil fuel sources and supporting energy decentralization [8]. Several long-term scenarios of green growth have been proposed, based on the relevance of utility-scale PV systems; however, the decentralized supply of rooftop PV plants may also assume a key role in the low-carbon transition [9].

Within the literature, a relevant role has been assigned to the economic assessment of solar PV systems, considering a wide range of parameters [10]. Such assessments have generally found that the economic feasibility of solar PV systems in mature markets is strictly associated with the share of self-consumed energy [11]. However, future analyses should adopt a transdisciplinary approach [12], combining studies on technological developments and results collected in the field of experimental and behavioral economics with sound behavioral assessments of consumer choices [13]. Consumers are willing to pay more for autarky aspiration, identified by the independence, autonomy, self-sufficiency, supply security, and control [14]. Empirical studies on behavioral factors associated to the individual energy-related choices are not well discussed in literature. Niamir et al. showed that awareness and personal and social norms had the same relevance of monetary factors [1]. Bearing this in mind, the present perspective article aims at identifying the main factors influencing consumer acceptance of PV systems by investigating Italians’ perceptions and habits with regards to energy consumption and solar PV systems. The Italian case is interesting, since the Italian government recently offered a tax deduction of 110% over 5 years for the realization of new PV residential plants. Furthermore, some authors proposed a bonus for energy produced and self-consumed; such a measure, if adopted, might stimulate the development of decentralized energy systems [15].

Recently, a growing number of studies have pointed to the need to combine different policy tools (i.e. policy mixes) to maximize their impact for sustainability transitions. Specifically, researchers have identified the need for combinations of “creative destruction” elements, involving policies aimed at both the “creation” of new (niche) technologies and the “destabilization” of old (incumbent) technologies [16], [17]. Green technologies follow this change of direction [18] and consumers should be placed at the center of the decision-making process as the residential sector is able to provide responses to climate change [19]. A survey experiment demonstrated that framing the choice of green electricity plan based on a foregone saving determines higher rates of green responses than one based on an additional expenditure [20]. Another survey underlined that subsidies and peer effects are enabling factors for the adoption of solar PV [21].

Based on the present findings, and aligned with this stream of the literature, this perspective studies consumer acceptance of PV systems in Italy. For this scope, we conduct a survey identifying economic values as the bonus for energy self-consumed and the green premium as potential drivers of the green transition. We propose also some policy recommendations, pointing to a mix of monetary and non-monetary incentives to maximize the impact on consumer awareness of the importance of renewable energy.

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: Section 2 introduces the study and describes the data collection process; Section 3 presents the main results; and Section 4 concludes the article, providing insights for policy interventions.