Analysing social acceptance of renewable energy policy in Australia

367 Pages·2017·7.26 MB·English

Analysing social acceptance of
renewable energy policy in Australia:
Community, industry and
government perceptions of
residential solar energy

Genevieve Simpson BSc (Env) Hons

This thesis is presented for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy of The University of Western Australia
School of Earth and Environment
Human Geography
2017

THESIS DECLARATION
I, Genevieve Simpson, certify that:
This thesis has been substantially accomplished during enrolment in the degree.
This thesis does not contain material which has been accepted for the award of any other
degree or diploma in my name, in any university or other tertiary institution.
No part of this work will, in the future, be used in a submission in my name, for any other
degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution without the prior approval
of The University of Western Australia and where applicable, any partner institution
responsible for the joint-award of this degree.
This thesis does not contain any material previously published or written by another
person, except where due reference has been made in the text.
The work(s) are not in any way a violation or infringement of any copyright, trademark,
patent, or other rights whatsoever of any person.
The research involving human data reported in this thesis was assessed and approved by
The University of Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee (Approval
#RA/4/1/6197).
The work described in this thesis was funded by the Australian Government through
provision of an Australian Postgraduate Award. Additionally, survey research was
undertaken with the assistance of funding from an Australian Research Council grant.
This thesis contains published work and work prepared for publication, some of which has
been co-authored.
Signature:

Date: 8 March 2017
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ABSTRACT
Australian governments, at federal, state and local levels, have promoted the increased
penetration of renewable energy generation in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. While some policies have supported the development of large-scale projects,
financial incentives have been made available to stimulate the adoption of residential solar
(photovoltaic) systems. Incentives are provided on the assumption that they will increase
the likelihood of solar systems being adopted; however, social acceptance of the technology
is also required. Wüstenhagen et al. (2007) developed a ‘triangle of social acceptance of
renewable energy innovations’ to describe the various dimensions of this social acceptance.
Social acceptance includes community acceptance and issues of justice, such as whether the
costs and benefits of a technology to the wider community are deemed acceptable.
Community acceptance also translates into trust in both a technology and the procedures
and practices around its adoption. Market acceptance is another dimension, where
investors/consumers are willing to participate in transactions supporting the technology.
Finally, socio-political acceptance is required in the form of policies and stakeholders willing
to provide official support for the technology and any changes to institutions required for its
adoption. This model was used as a framework for considering the social acceptance of
renewable energy and associated policies in Australia, with a particular focus on the
acceptance of residential solar energy in Western Australia. The research considered
perceptions of justice around the cross-subsidisation associated with incentivising solar, the
influence of incentives on the market acceptance of solar, perceptions of the policies and
government processes associated with supporting solar and trust in industry.
The study used a mixed-methods analytical approach, including quantitative survey data,
qualitative interview data and content analysis of publicly available secondary sources.
Four metropolitan and two regional communities in Western Australia participated in two
mail-out surveys in 2013 (295 and 362 responses), with follow-up semi-structured
interviews with 35 householders in 2013-15. An additional 33 interviews with members of
industry and government were performed during 2015. Triangulation of findings from the
researcher-generated data was undertaken through the use of government review
submissions, publicly available installation data, analysis of policy announcements and
legislation, and responses from the media. The findings are provided via seven published
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and submitted research papers, each reflecting the perceptions of a different group of
stakeholders in relation to a different aspect of renewable energy support.
These papers present a picture of the Australian residential solar energy market and its
consumers. The results of the research indicate that incentives promote the adoption of
residential solar energy by a group of consumers who would otherwise have chosen not to
adopt. Additionally, incentives may be promoting adoption by a more disadvantaged group
of consumers, with associated financial equity benefits. Residential householders, both
those who have installed solar and those who have not, support the availability of financial
incentives to stimulate solar adoption and most accept contributing to financial incentives,
including through their electricity tariffs. However, residential householders lack the
knowledge to make sound decisions around renewable energy, and are uncertain of who to
trust. Both residential householders and representatives from industry view governments
and government processes related to solar technology incentives unfavourably.
Government policies are seen as unreliable and not sufficiently comprehensive in their
support for renewable energy. Industry has suffered under frequent review processes, a
lack of stability in policy and a lack of transparency around government decision-making.
Network operators are perceived to be ‘pushing back’ on increasing penetrations of
distributed generation, including residential solar. Additionally, householders believe that
the solar industry is untrustworthy and not appropriately regulated. The findings of the
research were used to develop policy recommendations for increasing the social acceptance
of residential energy, which are transferable to other jurisdictions or innovations.

WÜSTENHAGEN, R., WOLSINK, M. & BÜRER, M. J. 2007. Social acceptance of renewable
energy innovation: An introduction to the concept. Energy Policy, 35, 2683-2691.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Thesis Declaration .................................................................................................................................................i
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................................... iii
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................................. v
Acknowledgments............................................................................................................................................ xiii
Authorship Declaration: Co-Authored Publications ............................................................................ xv
Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Community acceptance dimension ................................................................................................ 4
1.3 Market acceptance dimension ......................................................................................................... 8
1.4 Socio-political acceptance dimension ........................................................................................ 12
1.5 Intersections and Trust .................................................................................................................... 17
1.6 Residential-scale solar technologies and incentives in Western Australia ................ 19
1.7 This research ........................................................................................................................................ 23
1.8 References ............................................................................................................................................. 24
Chapter Two: Research Methodology ........................................................................................................... 31
2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 31
2.2 Research area selection ................................................................................................................... 35
2.3 Data collection ..................................................................................................................................... 38
2.3.1 Surveys ............................................................................................................................................... 38
2.3.2 Interviews ......................................................................................................................................... 40
2.4 Data analysis......................................................................................................................................... 42
2.4.1 Descriptive statistical analysis of survey data ................................................................... 42
2.4.2 Thematic analysis of short comments .................................................................................. 43
2.4.3 Thematic analysis of long-form texts from interviews .................................................. 44
2.4.4 Thematic analysis of long-form texts from the Renewable Energy Target Review
submissions ..................................................................................................................................................... 44
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2.4.5 Triangulation with external documents ............................................................................... 45
2.4.6 Descriptive analysis of externally available data .............................................................. 48
2.5 Ethics in social research ................................................................................................................... 49
2.6 Notes on terminology ........................................................................................................................ 52
2.7 References .............................................................................................................................................. 53
Chapter Three: Prologue ..................................................................................................................................... 57
Subsidies for residential solar photovoltaic energy systems in Western Australia:
Distributional, procedural and outcome justice ........................................................................................ 59
Abstract .................................................................................................................................................................. 59
3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 59
3.1.1 Policies to promote the adoption of residential solar energy systems .................... 60
3.1.2 Energy-related justice literature .............................................................................................. 62
3.1.3 Western Australian context ....................................................................................................... 65
3.1.4 The research ..................................................................................................................................... 67
3.2 Material and Methods ........................................................................................................................ 69
3.3 Results...................................................................................................................................................... 73
3.3.1 Quantitative Results ...................................................................................................................... 73
3.3.2 Qualitative Results ......................................................................................................................... 77
3.4 Discussion .............................................................................................................................................. 78
3.4.1 Support for renewable energy .................................................................................................. 78
3.4.2 Distributional, outcome and procedural justice ................................................................ 81
3.4.3 Policy recommendations ............................................................................................................. 84
3.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 86
3.6 References .............................................................................................................................................. 88
Chapter Four: Prologue ........................................................................................................................................ 93
The emperor and the cowboys: the role of government policy and industry in the adoption
of domestic solar microgeneration systems ................................................................................................ 95
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Abstract ................................................................................................................................................................. 95
4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 95
4.2 Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 97
4.3 Results 1 – Quantitative survey results examining satisfaction with domestic solar
energy .................................................................................................................................................................... 99
4.4 Discussion 1 – Quantitative survey results in the context of continued solar
adoption .............................................................................................................................................................. 100
4.5 Results and Discussion 2 - Qualitative survey results and examination of policy
issues .................................................................................................................................................................. 102
4.5.1 The Emperor – State Government policies ....................................................................... 103
4.5.2 The cowboys – Solar industry suppliers, retailers and installers ........................... 111
4.5.3 Support for Renewable Energy in Australia – An appetite for change .................. 117
4.6 Conclusions and Policy implications ........................................................................................ 119
4.7 References ........................................................................................................................................... 121
Chapter Four: Addendum ................................................................................................................................. 127
Chapter Five: Prologue ...................................................................................................................................... 133
Residential solar photovoltaic system incentive schemes promote diffusion in financially
motivated adopters by acting as a ‘cue-to-action’ .................................................................................. 135
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................................... 135
5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 135
5.2 Methods ................................................................................................................................................ 141
5.3 Results and Discussion Part One – Incentives promote adoption ............................... 147
5.4 Results and Discussion Part Two – Incentives promote adoption by different
consumers .......................................................................................................................................................... 152
5.5 Results and Discussion Part Three – Incentives can negatively impact readoption ....
.................................................................................................................................................................. 158
5.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 162
5.7 References ........................................................................................................................................... 165
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Chapter Six: Prologue......................................................................................................................................... 169
Community organisations, champions and incentive policies: Case studies on the social
acceptance of residential solar energy in regional Western Australia .......................................... 171
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................................... 171
6.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 172
6.1.1 Small-scale Renewable Energy and Western Australia ............................................... 176
6.1.2 Objectives ....................................................................................................................................... 177
6.1.3 Background to case study areas ............................................................................................ 178
6.2 Methods ................................................................................................................................................ 180
6.3 Results................................................................................................................................................... 183
6.3.1 Carnarvon ....................................................................................................................................... 183
6.3.2 Narrogin .......................................................................................................................................... 192
6.4 Discussion ........................................................................................................................................... 197
6.4.1 Market dimension ....................................................................................................................... 198
6.4.2 Community dimension .............................................................................................................. 200
6.4.3 Socio-political dimension ......................................................................................................... 203
6.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 205
6.6 References ........................................................................................................................................... 206
Chapter Seven: Prologue .................................................................................................................................. 211
Network operators and the transition to decentralised electricity: An Australian socio-
technical case study ............................................................................................................................................ 213
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................................... 213
7.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 213
7.1.1 Socio-technical transitions and energy supply ............................................................... 214
7.1.2 The Western Australian electricity sector and distributed generation ................ 216
7.2 Methods ................................................................................................................................................ 219
7.3 Results................................................................................................................................................... 222
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