Toward Sustainable Energy Consumption: Identifying Barriers to Household Adoption of Photovoltaic Solar Technology

Abstract

The key target of developing renewable energy systems is critical for countries to combat the impact of climate change and bolster energy security. Among the many available green powers, solar energy generation has been developed worldwide. The exponential acceleration of this technology has stimulated household customers in particular, to switch from the role of consumers to suppliers by selling electricity generated from their home panels. It is anticipated that this change would form a new business model for electricity sales and promote a sustainable energy supply chain, yet the change is still confined to a certain extent in developing markets. In this light, this study identified and evaluated the impact of seven barriers on the household intention to adopt photovoltaic (PV) solar systems. The results of the structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, based on the data from 288 households in Vietnam, revealed that six barriers, namely uncertain government policies, financial barriers, brand trust barriers, product knowledge barriers, location-based barriers and technical barriers had significant negative impacts on PV adoption intention, while the hypothesized influence of environmental knowledge barriers on this intention was insignificant. Among the validated barriers, uncertain government policies and financial barriers were the most critical factors hindering the household intention to adopt PV solar systems. Notably, while rural surveyed households had the higher means in adoption intentions, technical barriers and financial barriers, their results in location-based barriers and brand trust barriers were lower than the urban ones. Theoretically, this study contributed to expansion of pro-environmental behavior theory and barriers to adoption intention of household consumers. Besides, the findings of this study suggested policy makers, enterprises and technology providers how to promote household adoption thanks to the raised awareness of which barriers are concerned in Vietnam market.