Let it grow: How community solar policy can increase PV adoption in cities

Abstract

Decarbonizing urban energy consumption is critical for addressing climate change, yet renewable power installations in cities are rare due to limited space and economic unattractiveness. Community solar, where multiple electricity users share the electricity generated by their rooftop PV systems, could help overcome these barriers and accelerate PV adoption in cities. Using an agent-based model, we simulated the decision-making of nearly 5000 building owners in a city district in Zurich, Switzerland, and assessed three locally relevant policy scenarios: no community solar, community solar with adjacent buildings, and community solar with buildings within a 100-meter radius. The results show that allowing community solar with adjacent buildings increases the installed PV capacity in 2035 by 1%, as greater economies of scale and higher self-consumption make PV adoption more economically attractive. A more permissive policy, allowing community solar with buildings within a 100-meter radius, provides more opportunities to communities to grow over time and results in 21% more PV installed capacity in 2035 than without community solar. These findings demonstrate the potential of community solar to accelerate PV adoption in cities and underscore the significant role of policy design in achieving this goal.