Unrealised opportunities for residential solar panels in Australia

Abstract

Rooftop solar power production is particularly relevant to climate change mitigation in Australia given the country's high insolation rates. However, residential adoption rates vary across the country with potential for increasing uptake, particularly on apartment buildings and rental properties. This study focuses on past and future motivations for the adoption of rooftop solar panels and the barriers people perceive upon adoption. An online survey was conducted with 1126 respondents across Australia showing that 65% of those who had no solar panels were intending to adopt them. Results of best-worst scaling showed that motivations for past and future adoptions did not differ significantly and that economic motivations predominated, particularly for homeowners. Renters, a group often overlooked in the production of solar energy, strongly desired solar panels, often for environmental reasons, but were discouraged by uncertainties about the costs and benefits of installing solar. This reveals a need for policies that help renters and landlords, and those in multi-unit dwellings, to find ways in which the costs and benefits can be shared equitably. This will become more important as energy costs rise and urbanisation intensifies.