Socioeconomic and demographic disparities in residential battery storage adoption: Evidence from California

Abstract

There is growing interest in the adoption of residential battery storage because of its ability to provide bill savings, capture excess solar energy, and provide resiliency value. The resiliency benefits have become increasingly salient in light of recent large-scale power outages. However, these benefits may not accrue to all communities. We explore the presence of disparities in residential battery adoption and the allocation of subsidies under California's Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) by measures of income, race and ethnicity, and a vulnerability index that captures environmental justice (EJ) concerns. We present evidence that battery adoption and subsidy allocations are concentrated in communities that have higher household income and lower EJ concerns. Regression analyses demonstrate that there are disparities in battery adoption rates by household income and race/ethnicity demographic variables, after controlling for important time-varying and regional factors. These findings persist despite the fact that the SGIP has specific funds targeting lower income households and communities, as well as funding targeting wildfire- and outage-vulnerable households. We demonstrate that these findings can be partially, but not fully, explained by SGIP funding eligibility criteria that correlate with communities that have higher income, lower EJ concerns, and a lower percentage of residents of color.