Factors affecting for consumer attractiveness towards net metered solar pv technology in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to establish social-economic factors that affect the consumer acceptance of domestic net metered solar PV technology in Colombo district, Sri Lanka. Although, Sri Lankan energy sector admitted net metering in the year 2010, the number of connections has reached only to 5155 with capacity of 32.9 MW by year 2017. However, the authorities expect to achieve a 10% contribution to grid electricity from small non-conventional renewable energy sources and the net-meter facilities by 2020. We develop a conceptual model that describes how consumer's ability to buy and consumer's willingness to pay relate to net-metered solar PV systems. Our model accounts for both socio-economic factors and technological factors. Our results show a positive and a significant contribution of the factors such as investment, technology literacy, tariff structure and consumer demand to the consumer attractiveness towards net-metered solar PV technology in Sri Lanka. However, the regulatory concerns do not show a significant contribution to the consumer attractiveness towards net-metered solar PV technology. There are no moderating effects from consumer education level and their social values to the attractiveness of net-metered solar PV.