Pleasure is the profit: The adoption of solar PV systems by households in Finland

Sami Karjalainen; Hannele Ahvenniemi

doi:10.1016/j.renene.2018.10.011

Pleasure is the profit: The adoption of solar PV systems by households in Finland

Sami Karjalainen^*, Hannele Ahvenniemi

^*Corresponding author for this work

VTT (former employee or external)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

74 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Decentralized energy production offers households considerable potential to support the attainment of climate targets. This study focuses on solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption in Finland, where the adoption of solar PV systems is still at a low level. The study asks how adopters have overcome the barriers to adopting solar PV systems. A special interest lies in the user experience of solar PV systems. Twenty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain an understanding of the experiences of Finnish pioneer households. The results show that the adopters have overcome the barriers to adoption with the help of trustworthy information and advice from experts and from other adopters. The adopters are very satisfied with their PV plants even though economic profitability is not particularly good. The adopters actively monitor their energy production and are highly engaged in domestic energy matters. Many have enlarged their solar PV system or plan to do so, or are highly interested in upgrading their energy system with an electric car or advanced home automation. The adopters find pleasure in producing pollution-free energy effortlessly and being able to deliver information about clean energy production to others through their own installations.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	44-52
Journal	Renewable Energy
Volume	133
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.10.011
Publication status	Published - Apr 2019
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

This work was performed as part of the Smart Energy Transition project, which aims at the global disruption of energy markets and the creation of pathways for Finland to profit from energy disruption. Smart Energy Transition thanks the Strategic Research Council in collaboration with the Academy of Finland for their support for the project. We thank the interviewees and all those who helped facilitate contact with them, especially Vesa-Matti Puro (Aurinkovirta), Ville Reinikainen (City of Lappeenranta) and Liisa Harjula (Valonia). Sincere thanks also to Hanna-Liisa Kangas for her comments.

Keywords

Barrier
Decentralized energy
Early adopter
Energy citizen
Prosumer
Renewable energy
User experience

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.renene.2018.10.011

Cite this

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title = "Pleasure is the profit: The adoption of solar PV systems by households in Finland",

abstract = "Decentralized energy production offers households considerable potential to support the attainment of climate targets. This study focuses on solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption in Finland, where the adoption of solar PV systems is still at a low level. The study asks how adopters have overcome the barriers to adopting solar PV systems. A special interest lies in the user experience of solar PV systems. Twenty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain an understanding of the experiences of Finnish pioneer households. The results show that the adopters have overcome the barriers to adoption with the help of trustworthy information and advice from experts and from other adopters. The adopters are very satisfied with their PV plants even though economic profitability is not particularly good. The adopters actively monitor their energy production and are highly engaged in domestic energy matters. Many have enlarged their solar PV system or plan to do so, or are highly interested in upgrading their energy system with an electric car or advanced home automation. The adopters find pleasure in producing pollution-free energy effortlessly and being able to deliver information about clean energy production to others through their own installations.",

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author = "Sami Karjalainen and Hannele Ahvenniemi",

note = "Funding Information: This work was performed as part of the Smart Energy Transition project, which aims at the global disruption of energy markets and the creation of pathways for Finland to profit from energy disruption. Smart Energy Transition thanks the Strategic Research Council in collaboration with the Academy of Finland for their support for the project. We thank the interviewees and all those who helped facilitate contact with them, especially Vesa-Matti Puro (Aurinkovirta), Ville Reinikainen (City of Lappeenranta) and Liisa Harjula (Valonia). Sincere thanks also to Hanna-Liisa Kangas for her comments. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 Elsevier Ltd Copyright: Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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AU - Karjalainen, Sami

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N2 - Decentralized energy production offers households considerable potential to support the attainment of climate targets. This study focuses on solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption in Finland, where the adoption of solar PV systems is still at a low level. The study asks how adopters have overcome the barriers to adopting solar PV systems. A special interest lies in the user experience of solar PV systems. Twenty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain an understanding of the experiences of Finnish pioneer households. The results show that the adopters have overcome the barriers to adoption with the help of trustworthy information and advice from experts and from other adopters. The adopters are very satisfied with their PV plants even though economic profitability is not particularly good. The adopters actively monitor their energy production and are highly engaged in domestic energy matters. Many have enlarged their solar PV system or plan to do so, or are highly interested in upgrading their energy system with an electric car or advanced home automation. The adopters find pleasure in producing pollution-free energy effortlessly and being able to deliver information about clean energy production to others through their own installations.

AB - Decentralized energy production offers households considerable potential to support the attainment of climate targets. This study focuses on solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption in Finland, where the adoption of solar PV systems is still at a low level. The study asks how adopters have overcome the barriers to adopting solar PV systems. A special interest lies in the user experience of solar PV systems. Twenty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain an understanding of the experiences of Finnish pioneer households. The results show that the adopters have overcome the barriers to adoption with the help of trustworthy information and advice from experts and from other adopters. The adopters are very satisfied with their PV plants even though economic profitability is not particularly good. The adopters actively monitor their energy production and are highly engaged in domestic energy matters. Many have enlarged their solar PV system or plan to do so, or are highly interested in upgrading their energy system with an electric car or advanced home automation. The adopters find pleasure in producing pollution-free energy effortlessly and being able to deliver information about clean energy production to others through their own installations.

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KW - Energy citizen

KW - Prosumer

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KW - User experience

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ER -

Pleasure is the profit: The adoption of solar PV systems by households in Finland

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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