Red is the new blue – The role of color, building integration and country-of-origin in homeowners​' preferences for residential photovoltaics

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe wider diffusion of solar photovoltaics (PV) is crucial to lower the environmental impact of the residential sector, which is responsible for a large share of energy consumption in many industrialized countries, including Switzerland. By conducting an adaptive choice-based conjoint (ACBC) with a representative sample of Swiss homeowners planning to undertake a roof renovation project, we investigate the extent to which financial and non-financial factors drive homeowners' preferences for PV in Switzerland. We reveal that the color and country of origin of the PV modules are the main drivers for increasing share of preference for PV. In addition, we estimate the price premium that homeowners are willing to pay for building-integrated PV (BIPV) versus rack-mounted PV. We find a premium in willingness to pay of 21.79% for a roof with a BIPV installation in comparison with a rack-mounted PV installation. We further show that an increase in revenues from electricity sales (e.g. via feed-in tariffs), when transparently disclosed over an aggregated time frame, would be almost equally effective in spurring demand for PV as a decrease of initial investment costs (e.g. via one-off investment grants). Implications for energy policy and marketing are discussed. (H.C. Curtius), rolf.wuestenhagen@unisg.ch (R. Wüstenhagen). 1 The term extremely likely has been used to indicate the likelihood of 95%-100% of the outcome [1].

Not all homeowners are alike: a segmentation model based on a quantitative analysis of Dutch adopters of residential photovoltaics

“…First, the financing (low-interest loan) offered by the municipality. This loan addresses the perceived high upfront costs that are often mentioned in other research as an important barrier (Wolske et al 2018;Hille et al 2018;Scarpa and Willis 2010;Islam 2014;J. Palm 2018;Karakaya and Sriwannawit 2015;Balcombe et al 2013Balcombe et al , 2014, and confirms other studies which suggest that leasing systems can help to grow the RPV market (Sigrin et al 2015;Rai and Sigrin 2013;Liu et al 2014).…”

“…First, RPV must be perceived to have a relative advantage over the status quo (Wolske et al 2017). This can be a financial advantage, which has been studied in numerous previous studies-for example, energy cost-savings (Sigrin et al 2015;Wolske et al 2018;Islam 2014;Hille et al 2018;Bondio et al 2018;Balcombe et al 2013;Korcaj et al 2015); protection against rising electricity prices (Balcombe . Moreover, the way homeowners perceive these financial-economic factors is important, and therefore, some studies suggest there should be more focus on perceived affordability than on costs alone (Vasseur and Kemp 2015a;Rai and Beck 2015).…”

Transparent and Colored Solar Photovoltaics for Building Integration

“…This is the first step for BIPVs to be widely accepted as building materials by the public because the aesthetic is the most intuitionistic factor, and also a factor only depending on the self‐effort of the PV research and industry field. [ 114 ]…”

EU-Funded Projects with Actual Implementation of Renewable Energies in Cities. Analysis of Their Concern for Aesthetic Impact

“…Several studies have aimed to identify consumer preferences. [20][21][22], whereas some recent research has focused on the aesthetic integration of BIPV systems in heritage buildings [23,24].…”