Photovoltaic Poverty Alleviation Research Articles

Impact of photovoltaic power generation on poverty alleviation in Jiangsu, China

The photovoltaic poverty alleviation project, part of the “Ten Major Precise Poverty Alleviation Projects” implemented by the Poverty Alleviation Office of the State Council, significantly contributes to eradicating poverty and rural revitalization. A difference-in-differences model was utilized in this study to assess this project's impact on rural households. This analysis used tracking data from households both with photovoltaic equipment installed and without in “S Town,” Jiangsu Province, from 2017 to 2021. The results indicate that photovoltaic installations lead to an increase in per capita disposable income, hence reducing poverty. However, further analysis suggests that better health and work capacity in disadvantaged households correlate with lesser benefits from the photovoltaic project in terms of income. The policy implications of these findings include a necessity for developing innovative models in the photovoltaic sector to enhance conditions for farmers, reducing their dependence on government subsidies.

Targetedness, effectiveness, and sustainability of China's photovoltaic poverty alleviation programmes

As one of the key projects of the top ten targeted poverty alleviation projects, Photovoltaic Poverty Alleviation Projects (PPAP) has played an important role in poverty alleviation and eliminating absolute poverty. This paper analyzes the impact of the PPAP on the consumption and poverty vulnerability of impoverished households and reveals the characteristics of the targetedness, effectiveness and sustainability of PPAP based on the data of the previous poverty-stricken households recorded in four townships in Wuwei County, Wuhu City, Anhui Province, China. The results show that under the extreme poverty standard line, PPAP can significantly reduce the poverty vulnerability of impoverished households, and the effect of the PV poverty alleviation project has a strong sustainability; It has a significant heterogeneous impact on families of different poverty types, among which, it plays a significant role in alleviating the poverty vulnerability of impoverished households due to the loss of labor ability, and low-income families, with strong targetedness; For families with a high degree of vulnerability to poverty, the PPAP can significantly alleviate their vulnerability, indicating the effectiveness of PPAP to play a bottom-up role for the poor families.

Study on the Integration Path of “Photovoltaic + Rural Revitalization” under the Perspective of “Dual Carbon”

Abstract This study combines photovoltaic (PV) technology with rural revitalization, constructs a new long-term mechanism by using a BOT model, and applies fuzzy number processing to the model of the real option method to dig out the potential value of the project. Based on the field research of X county, the article comprehensively analyzes the PV power generation project in terms of economic and social benefits and its impact on poverty alleviation. The results show that the total benefit of X county can reach 3720.34 million yuan in 30 years, and the average annual benefit is about 124.011 million yuan. The full power generation capacity of the project is 4,987 MWh, and the total income from electricity sales reaches 471,985,000 yuan. The PV power project has contributed significantly to environmental protection, with reductions in carbon dust, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides of 12.12 billion tons, 44.61 billion tons, 13.77 billion tons, and 750 million tons, respectively. The study also found that villages with larger administrative territory and suitable topographic conditions are more ideal for establishing large-scale PV ground power plants to help alleviate poverty. Meanwhile, villages with good grid quality are more efficient in reducing poverty when implementing PV poverty alleviation programs. This study provides an innovative perspective for village revitalization strategies and demonstrates the great potential of PV technology in promoting village economic development and environmental protection.

A novel interval-valued Fermatean fuzzy three-way decision making method with probability dominance relations

Interval-valued Fermatean fuzzy sets (IVFFSs) as an extension of Fermatean fuzzy sets (FFSs) are a new powerful mathematical tool that apply interval value to describe uncertainty. Compared to interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IVIFSs) and interval-valued Pythagorean fuzzy sets (IVPFSs), IVFFSs can handle more uncertain information. This paper presents a novel fuzzy three-way multi-attribute decision-making approach with the probabilistic dominance relation, based on the model of IVFSSs. The proposed method firstly uses the probabilistic dominance relation to calculate the conditional probability of each alternative. Subsequently, it builds loss functions from the perspective of the ideal solution. Our suggested method is able to rank and classify the alternatives into the positive region, the boundary region, and the negative region while the existing MADM approaches under IVFSSs only sort them without classification. Additionally, the suggested solution involves a much lower error rate than the existing methods. And our method’s conditional probability may be determined objectively and takes the relation between attributes and interactions among alternatives into account, which reduce the risk associated with subjectivity in the decision-making process of existing approaches. The effectiveness and suitability of the suggested approach are illustrated by two real-world applications such as the photovoltaic poverty alleviation project selection and the hotel location evaluation and experimental findings.

Can Solar Photovoltaic Poverty Alleviation Policies Reduce Carbon Emissions and Increase Income in China?

China implemented a solar photovoltaic (PV) poverty alleviation (PVPA) policy of building nearly 0.24 million PVPA power plants in 2014-2020 to fight poverty. However, our current knowledge of its effects, encompassing not only primary poverty alleviation but also secondary objectives such as carbon emission-reduction, remains comparatively constrained. Here, we present a comprehensive assessment of the emission-reducing and income-increasing effects of the PVPA policy using estimated carbon emission factors and a staggered difference-in-difference model based on integrated data from almost all actual PVPA plants in China. Our analysis revealed the co-benefits of emission-reduction and poverty alleviation, with PVPA policy boosting villagers' per capita net income by 2-3% in villages with PV plants. A nonlinear, inverted U-shaped relationship between income and PVPA plant investment was identified with a $2.21 million inflection point. Spatial heterogeneity was observed in the income-increasing effect, with centralized village-level plants proving more effective than rooftop household plants. China's PVPA plants reduced carbon emissions by nearly 3% in 2020 and are projected to generate 774 billion kW h of electricity by 2045, mitigating 715.75 million tons of carbon emissions. The findings from this research offer insights for optimizing antipoverty and climate change policies to facilitate sustainable development goal achievement in China and other developing nations.

Spatial patterns and environmental benefits of photovoltaic poverty alleviation programs in China

The photovoltaic poverty alleviation (PVPA) project in China integrates clean energy production into poverty reduction, gaining significant academic interest. However, a systematic assessment of the spatial distribution and emission reduction performance of existing PVPA power plants at the site level remains deficient. Based on comprehensive data collection and spatial visualization of all PVPA plants, we revealed spatial distribution patterns and estimates potential environmental benefits for each plant. During 2013–2019, the construction of approximately 180-thansand PVPA plants in China had resulted in an overall installed capacity of 21.77 GW. The spatial layout showed a decreasing trend from east to west, with distinct clusters at the border areas of different provinces. The cumulative emission reduction benefits amounted to 636 million tons, with large-scale solar photovoltaics and the North China Grid contributing significantly. Emission reduction efficiency per unit of installed capacity in the north was higher than the south. This study provides an initial site-level assessment of the PVPA program in China and emphasizes the need for integrating economic feasibility and environmental benefits, along with developing complementary policies and exploring innovative “photovoltaic plus” channels tailored to local contexts in the future.

Spatial correlation analysis of comprehensive efficiency of the photovoltaic poverty alleviation policy - Evidence from 110 counties in China

The photovoltaic poverty alleviation (PV-PA) policy is a promising policy innovation to achieve sustainable development in China. Based on first-hand field investigation data of 18 prefecture-level cities and 110 counties in China's Henan Province, this paper first evaluated the efficiency of PV-PA policy and analyzed its spatial correlation characteristics by adopting data envelopment analysis, spatial autocorrelation analysis and social network analysis methods. The results show that: (1) the comprehensive efficiency of the PV-PA policy in Henan Province is good, and that of the prefecture-level is better than the county-level, with great differences; (2) comprehensive efficiency of the PV-PA policy shows a significant spatial agglomeration phenomenon at the county-level, and regional development imbalance exists; and (3) PV-PA policy network linkages at prefecture-level are relatively weak. Finally, this paper makes policy recommendations for optimizing project scale, promoting regional balanced development, strengthening supervision and management, and enhancing the cooperation between policymakers.

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

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.

Community-based energy revolution: An evaluation of China's photovoltaic poverty alleviation Program's economic and social benefits

We use a unique micro dataset from the period of 2014–2021 to evaluate China's Photovoltaic Poverty Alleviation (PVPA) program. By employing a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that the community-based PVPA stations distributed in China are anti-poverty facilities that can reconcile equity and efficiency. The PVPA program not only significantly increases the total income of treated households, but also reduces the within-village inequality and encourages off-farm labor supply. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that the effect of PVPA is more substantial for households with a high dependency ratio and in villages where officials are well-educated. The benefit-cost ratio of a village-level PVPA station is greater than one, indicating that the community-based PVPA program is cost-effective.

Determining the optimal operation and maintenance contract period of PV poverty alleviation projects based on real options and cooperative game: Evidence from rural China

China's photovoltaic poverty alleviation power stations (PPAPS) properly combine poverty alleviation and renewable power generation while also meeting rural energy demands. The fundamental problem is how to optimize the benefits of PPAPS during its limited lifetime. Using the post-operation of photovoltaic poverty alleviation power plants as a starting point, this paper proposes a model combining real option theory and cooperative game to determine the ideal contract period of service committed by the government to the operation and maintenance (O&M) company, thus providing a reference for both parties. The model's validity and applicability are verified by incorporating a PPAPS from Henan Province in China as an example; ultimately, the factors influencing the O&M contract period are ranked using the Sobol global sensitivity analysis. The results show that when the solar industry's environment is positive, the government is more inclined to sign long-term contracts with O&M companies. In contrast, the more the government invests in the facilities, the more likely both parties will sign short-term contracts. Furthermore, the O&M company's capital investment in the power station has a direct impact on the contract period. Finally, corresponding policy recommendations are proposed for future O&M contracts.

Photovoltaics literature survey (No. 181)

Photovoltaics literature survey (No. 181)

How do photovoltaic poverty alleviation projects relieve household energy poverty? Evidence from China

Energy poverty is a serious problem worldwide and has attracted the attention of policymakers. As a type of social welfare project, photovoltaic poverty alleviation projects (PPAPs) are expected to achieve high-quality poverty alleviation and an energy transformation in China. By the end of 2019, in China, the task of PPAP construction had been fully completed, with 26.36 million kWh of (PV) photovoltaic power plants having been built and 4.15 million households benefitting. This paper aims to explore the effect of PPAPs on energy poverty alleviation in poor areas. Based on 2010–2018 panel data from a tracking survey, this paper adopts a high-dimensional fixed effect model and finds that PPAPs reduced household energy poverty by 6.32%. Specifically, the mechanism included promoting the diversification of household energy sources and improving the disposable income of residents. Furthermore, the policy effect was more significant in regions with greater sunlight resource endowments. The findings of this paper provide implications for developing countries facing similar difficulties in improving people's livelihoods and in promoting sustainable development.

Does the Photovoltaic poverty alleviation project promote county economic development? : Evidence from 852 counties in China

Photovoltaic poverty alleviation projects (PVPA), an innovative and unique policy introduced by China to promote green development and poverty alleviation, has attracted growing attention from both the public and the government. However, there is no consistent conclusion in the existing literature on the question of whether the establishment of PVPA has promoted county economic development. Based on the panel data of 852 counties from 12 provinces in China, this study employs the quasi-experimental method of Difference in Difference with Propensity Score Matching (PSM-DID) to examine the effects of the establishment of PVPA on county economy. It is found that: (1) The introduction of PVPA can significantly and sustainably promote the county economy; the longer the PVPA is introduced, the greater the boost to economic development. These results have been verified by robustness testing. (2) The policy effects of PVPA show heterogeneity in different types of counties. Specifically, the policy effects are stronger in non-national-level poor counties than in national-level poor counties, while the positive policy effects are more prominent in western counties than in non-western counties. (3) The policy effects of PVPA have positive but weak spillover effects on the neighboring areas. Based on the above findings, suggestions are proposed, such as sustainable operation of PVPA through multiple channels and enhanced cooperation of photovoltaic projects between neighboring regions are proposed.

Do the photovoltaic poverty alleviation programs alleviate local energy poverty? —Empirical evidence of 9 counties in rural China

As an innovation of the Chinese government energy policy, solar photovoltaic poverty alleviation projects (PPAPs) play a positive role in solving energy shortages and poverty reduction. However, there is limited research on energy poverty in China's PPAP areas. This study has proposed a three-dimensional theoretical model for energy poverty, evaluated the energy poverty in the PPAP areas and analyzed its influencing path. The results show that: (1) The implementation of PPAPs has improved energy poverty to various degrees in all three types of solar resource areas; (2) The availability of energy services is the most prominent problem in energy poverty, and the PPAPs improve the availability of energy services the most; (3) Farmers' economic status and education have the greatest impact on alleviating energy poverty, and (4) The PPAPs directly improve the availability of energy services by increasing power generation and stability of the grid, and indirectly affect the cleanliness of energy consumption and energy affordability through farmers per se, thus affecting local energy poverty. Thus, public policies for promoting clean energy and energy utilization technologies (such as solar PV, etc) would help alleviate energy poverty in the rural areas.

Influence of Nature Reserves on the Energy Consumption Structure of Local Farmers.

The energy consumption of farmers residing around nature reserves is an important factor that affects the coordinated development of nature reserves and the surrounding communities. The optimization of the energy consumption structure of farmers around nature reserves is important for maintaining the resources and environment of nature reserves and saving natural resources. Based on the microscopic survey data for the energy consumption structure of 956 rural households around six nature reserves in Liaoning province, a multiple linear regression model was used in this study to match tendency scores and empirically examine the impacts of regulatory policies of nature reserves on the energy consumption of rural households in Liaoning province. In addition, the influence of the income and environmental cognition of farmers on the energy consumption of rural households around nature reserves was examined. The results showed that the regulatory policies of the nature reserves were conducive to reducing the traditional biomass energy consumption of the farmers. The nature reserves indirectly affect the energy consumption of the farmers by influencing their income, and cognition plays an important role in reducing the traditional biomass energy consumption of farmers in nature reserves. Compared with provincial nature reserves, national nature reserves have a more evident impact on the energy consumption of farmers. Based on the empirical results, farmers should be encouraged to reduce their high-pollution and high-emission energy consumption activities and should be provided with technical support and financial subsidies for clean energy, such as solar energy and biogas. The following measures should be taken to maintain the ecological environment of the nature reserves and to reduce the contradiction between the nature reserves and farmers: supervise the coal quality in the surrounding areas of nature reserves, improve the non-agricultural employment ability of farmers around nature reserves and the photovoltaic poverty alleviation project in Liaoning province, increase the income of farmers and promote the energy consumption of farmers around nature reserves, strengthen the management of provincial nature reserves, promptly change the traditional idea of ‘depend on the mountain and water’ adopted by farmers, improve the environmental awareness of farmers residing around nature reserves, and advocate green energy consumption.

A Risk Assessment Framework of Photovoltaic Poverty Alleviation Projects under EPC Mode in China

Due to the characteristics of poverty alleviation and cleanness, the photovoltaic poverty alleviation project (PPAP) plays an important role in consolidating the link between poverty alleviation and “rural revitalization” in China, which has attracted the attention of all sectors of society. In practice, EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) mode is widely used in PPAP, which brings considerable benefits, but also has many risks. To ensure the successful development of the project, it is necessary to carry out risk assessment when selecting the scheme. However, this complex multi-attribute decision-making problem can be improved. First, the risk of PPAP is lack of targeted research; second, the uncertainty in the evaluation process has not been fully solved; third, the method of sorting is unreasonable. To solve these problems, this study establishes the risk assessment framework of PPAP. Firstly, a comprehensive index system suitable for PPAP risk assessment is established, including 5 first-level indexes and 22 second-level indexes. Then, the ANP method based on fuzzy environment is used to determine the weight. Finally, the cloud model and PROMETHEE are combined to select a higher priority solution. Case study and sensitivity analysis prove the robustness and feasibility of the framework. This study puts forward the corresponding risk response measures, to provide reference for the future practice of risk prevention and control.

Do operation and maintenance contracts help photovoltaic poverty alleviation power stations perform better?

Photovoltaic poverty alleviation power stations (PPAPS) are the foundation of poverty alleviation, whose operation and maintenance (O&M) status is the key to ensuring long-term poverty reduction advantages. As part of PPAPS′ O&M performance, the role of the O&M contracts has yet to be proven. This paper uses a three-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model and grey relation analysis (GRA) to analyze the O&M performance efficiency of PPAPS and the influencing factors of contract governance from field data of 110 counties in Henan Province, China. The results show that:1) the O&M efficiency of the PPAPS is relatively high and inconsistent across the region, which has not yet attained optimal productivity; 2) the present efficiency is mainly determined by the initial investment size and installed capacity; 3) the governance factors of O&M contracts affect the performance efficiency of PPAPS, which may lead to overestimation; and 4) longer contract term and higher performance incentive coefficients may result in inefficiencies at the initial stage of PPAPS′ use, while government subsidies allocation and timely O&M cost settlement have little impact on O&M efficiency. This paper proposes corresponding policy recommendations finally.

A hybrid decision-making framework for photovoltaic poverty alleviation project site selection under intuitionistic fuzzy environment

The photovoltaic poverty alleviation project (PPAP), with functions of clean generation and poverty assistance, is regarded as an effective way to promote energy structure transformation and social coordinated development. Improper site selection poses a threat to stable profits, which hinders PPAP development. However, existing index systems fail to reflect PPAPs’ characteristics, and traditional decision-making techniques are faced with some problems such as information loss and evaluation bias. Therefore, a hybrid decision-making framework for PPAP site selection is proposed: First, based on 4-dimension searching loop, a comprehensive index system which includes veto indexes and sorting indexes is established; Second, a combined weight determining method is adopted to balance logic importance and decision-making contribution; Third, an extended ranking method is proposed for optimal alternative determination with consideration of intuitionistic fuzzy environment and bounded rationality; Finally, a case of Anhui, China is employed to verify the practicability and the robustness of the proposed framework. Results show that number of households assisted, initial capital and local villager support play a vital role in PPAP site selection. Judging from contributions, this paper can not only provide effective decision-making guidance for project investors, but also enriches the theoretical system of multi-criteria decision-making methods.

Performance evaluation of China's photovoltaic poverty alleviation project using machine learning and satellite images

Photovoltaic poverty alleviation project (PPAP) is one of China's essential targeted poverty alleviation projects. This study proposes a machine learning model and uses satellite images to evaluate the performance of PPAP in China. The trained deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) with transfer learning was first used to identify the scale of photovoltaic (PV) power stations. Then the PV power capacity for poverty alleviation and carbon emission mitigation were estimated. The results identified 38 large-scale centralized and approximately 5,063,293 m2PV power stations built in Jinzhai County, Anhui province, China, by November 2020. The main findings are as follows. (1) The power generation and carbon mitigation of PPAP in Jinzhai County is about 1.8×103 MWh and 1.389 Mt per year. (2) The PPAP in Jinzhai County can recover the total costs and get benefits within three years, at least after completion. (3) Dynamic subsidy policy is needed to prevent over-scale or excessive government investment in PPAP. (4) The utilization of PPAP needs to be strengthened to transform the current “blood transfusion type” of poverty alleviation that relies more on government subsidies into more sustainable “hematopoietic style” poverty alleviation. This study is of significance to more accurately and comprehensively evaluate the performance of PPAP and give better utilize the role of renewable energy in promoting energy conservation, carbon emission reduction, and economic development.

Does the solar PV program enhance the social empowerment of China's rural poor?

In 2014, China began to deploy a large-scale solar energy program in poor areas to alleviate rural poverty. This unconventional new energy policy innovation is endowed with strong political will by the Chinese government, which is of great significance to the social empowerment of the poor people. However, is the solar photovoltaic poverty alleviation program (PPAP) effective for the social empowerment of the poor? Compared with other programs, is PPAP the best way to enhance social empowerment? Based on the field survey of 1251 poor families, this paper discusses the significance of PPAP on the social empowerment of the rural poor in the project areas by principal component analysis, data envelopment analysis and grey relation analysis methods. The results show that: (1) six China's poverty alleviation programs including PPAP have played significant roles to contribute the social empowerment of the poor; (2) PPAP is the best way to improve the social empowerment of the poor among several poverty alleviation models; (3) due to the small scale and the unreasonable investment allocation, 60% of the samples does not reach the investment ideal efficiency frontier; (4) there are large regional differences in the social empowerment efficiency in various regions of China.