Rural public acceptance of renewable energy deployment: The case of Shandong in China

Abstract

China has set ambitious goals to increase the use of renewable energy. Developing renewables in rural areas is also one of the most important energy strategies. This paper examines rural social acceptance of renewable energy deployment taking Shandong as a case study via a field questionnaire survey. Theory of planned behavior is adopted to establish an analytical framework, and a logit model is used to examine possible determinants of local social acceptance. The results show that rural residents are generally supportive renewable energy development given its positive impacts on environment. A stated willingness to pay more for renewable electricity is taken as a variable representing an individual’s behavioral intention. The probability of occurrence of positive intention is found to increase with household income, individual knowledge level and belief about costs of renewable energy use but decrease with individual age. Residents with higher level of income are more likely to be willing to pay more for green electricity, so are the younger people. Enhancive knowledge and understanding about renewable energy (for instance, the cost) would be conducive to win public acceptance of renewable energy deployment.