Equalizing solar panel adoption across immigrant groups

Abstract

This study seeks to understand the difference in solar-panel adoption across country-of-birth groups in Australia. Households with a respondent born in Australia, New Zealand, or North-West Europe are more likely to own their home and to have solar panels than households with respondents born elsewhere. The solar-uptake difference is substantial at around five percentage points, based on the 2019–20 Survey of Income and Housing. Renting status accounts for around 35% of the explained solar-uptake difference across country-of-birth groups using the 2019–20 survey and higher proportions using earlier surveys. Results are robust to inclusion of variables for key influences on solar adoption, such as wealth. Detailed location variables account for further differences in solar adoption that are not captured by other controls. The key implication is that policy to promote solar-panel adoption on rental housing could also make a major contribution toward improving equality of solar-panel adoption for country-of-birth groups. The decomposition approach in this paper could be useful for future studies which can suggest policies to reduce inequality in other contexts.