Impacts of solar photovoltaic projects on sustainable livelihoods: Evidence from rural China

Abstract

Solar photovoltaic poverty alleviation projects (PPAPs) have flourished with great achievements in China since 2013. However, the degree to which these PPAPs contribute to the sustainable livelihoods and the underlying mechanism remain unclear. By using the partial least squares-structural equation modeling and multi-group comparative analysis, this study has explored the poverty reduction mechanism of China's PPAPs from the perspective of sustainable livelihood of rural low-income families, taking 1112 rural households in China's 9 counties as the research subject. Results demonstrate that PPAPs perform best in promoting rural livelihood diversification. The PV projects actually provide the service of searching out a personal potential and assist in achieving their economic goal. The parallel mediating effects of livelihood assets, endogenous impetus and livelihood strategies between PPAPs and livelihood outcomes are significant. The poor's livelihood resources are catalysts for the performance of interventions. Further, for those families of the non-agricultural type, and for those with high energy saving habits, good education and young age, PPAPs can be more effective in reducing poverty and improving quality of life and overall income; while the influence of PPAPs on livelihood capital and thought impetus is relatively more significant for those families with greater PV knowledge and project cognition, reflecting the poverty reduction pathways of PPAPs show heterogeneity.