Can renewable energy work for rural societies? Exploring productive use, institutions, support systems, and trust for solar electricity in the Navajo Nation

Abstract

Reliable electricity and water access remain major challenges in rural communities worldwide. Standalone renewable energy systems show promise in improving access, but successful long-term outcomes remain infrequent in practice. To achieve sustainable outcomes, planners and decision makers should place a greater emphasis on understanding community context to determine the technological and social appropriacy of renewable energy technology. This article investigates a case study of renewable energy systems in the Navajo Nation to develop an understanding of what technical and social considerations may be necessary. A qualitative exploratory data analysis approach is used to perform a comparative analysis of two programs that deployed solar home systems (SHS) and atmospheric water generation (AWG) systems to address electricity and water needs in the Nation, respectively. The findings reveal that renewable energy programs should critically evaluate four factors related to technological and procedural appropriacy. These four factors are (1) an understanding of the productive use of the technology in context, (2) the need to operate within extant institutional paradigms, (3) the capacity to develop and maintain a support network, and (4) the need for trust building. The findings indicate that productive use of renewable energy is determined by end-user application and its usefulness in the community’s rank order of priorities. It also demonstrates that social acceptance of renewable energy is affected by the willingness of programs to conform to existing institutional paradigms. This article refines and expands upon existing themes of social acceptance, making them more application oriented by focusing on the planning phase.