Drivers for, and barriers to solar energy use by manufacturing Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Tanzania

Abstract

Choice of solar energy by manufact uring Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME’s) has been associated with manufact uring sustainability. In this st udy, the Struct ural Equat ion Modeling (SEM) technique was employed to establish drivers for, and barriers to solar energy use by manufact uring MSME’s in selected districts in Morogoro region. The SEM results revealed social-economic, technological and environmental factors hindering deployment of solar energy by manufact uring MSME’s. Also, the results indicated that there are several factors that hinder manufact uring MSME’s use of solar energy for different operat ions including the environmental concern (i.e., staff/ employers’ concern about air pollut ion resulted from energy use, and staff/employers’ concern about climate change); solar energy awareness (i.e., experience in previous use of solar energy, and understanding of different types of solar PV which can be used at industry level), and solar energy generat ion cost (i.e., the generat ion of solar energy may cause addit ional cost, and solar energy requires high init ial investment cost). Hence, the results of this st udy can be used by energy policymaking instruments to make informed decisions for renewable energy investment in the country’s manufact uring sector for manufact uring sustainability.