How do PV households use their PV system and how is this related to their energy use?

Abstract

Abstract Owning a PV system, households take part in electricity production which might change their electricity use, but so far, their daily life use of electricity and monitoring has not been researched in depth. Therefore, the way PV households monitor their PV system and how their monitoring is related to energy use was investigated. More precisely, the role of active monitoring (e.g., note down electricity data or use of online portals for data treatment) in energy use by means of load shifting activities and energy-saving behaviors was studied. Special attention was paid to available devices and different policy frameworks. Participants (N = 425 PV households) were recruited from 15 PV related web-portals and responded to an online questionnaire. The results showed that affinity with technology and available monitoring devices were important predictors for active monitoring. Distinguishing PV households according to the PV installation period, we found that in pre-grid parity PV households, energy-saving behaviors were explained by active monitoring and environmental motivation. In post-grid parity PV households they were mainly influenced by load shifting activities and sufficiency attitudes. This indicates that different policy measures and implied financial incentives can influence PV monitoring and the relevant factors for energy-saving behaviors.