Does community management influence household adoption of rooftop solar photovoltaics in rural China?

This paper examines inequality in household adoption of rooftop solar photovoltaics in rural China through a qualitative study of three villages. The Chinese government promotes distributed solar to drive low-carbon development. However, community management and China’s institutional system influence unequal access.

Do villagers have a role in photovoltaic negotiations?

From a procedural justice standpoint, the village committee acts as an agent negotiating with photovoltaic enterprises while villagers participate limitedly (e.g., voting at meetings). Regarding pricing roof resources and determining cooperation specifics, villagers’ absence in negotiations diminishes the fairness of the process.

Can a village adopt a solar power system?

Usually, only about 30% of households can adopt PV. To increase that percentage, the village would need to expand transformer capacity. The costs of that expansion get divided up and paid by later adopters. This raises their construction costs and creates an obstacle to adoption. It is another form of injustice.

How can village committees improve photovoltaic adoption?

Families with larger roof areas can install multiple photovoltaic sets and garner more rent. In this mode, village committee involvement can effectively mitigate constraints on photovoltaic adoption such as lack of energy services provided by enterprises and imperfect information mechanisms (Kiprop et al. 2019; Kowalska-Pyzalska 2017).