Solar energy surge: The socio-economic determinants of the photovoltaic systems growth in Australia
Open accessAbstract
The installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on residential units is one of the measures that countries around the world are implementing to mitigate the impact of the global warming crisis. Australia has become the world leader in the solar PV sector since it introduced its solar-related program in 2001. The adoption was initially spurred by government-driven incentive schemes providing opportunities for early adopters to financially capitalise on the technology through feed-in tariffs. Over time, the growth was further propelled by the phenomenon often referred to as the neighbourhood effects. This paper conducted a statistical analysis to investigate the demographic composition, at postal area (POA) resolution, associated with the PV uptake in Australia. To detect the presence of the neighbourhood effects, a formula was developed to simplify its quantification, drawing analogies to kinematics. The results of the regression analysis reveal that gender, share of certain age groups, land area, and dwellings with a vehicle do not correlate with adoption. On the other hand, other variables such as marital status, weekly household income, number of bedrooms, population and dwellings densities, do have influences, positively and negatively. Furthermore, the “accelerated rate” determines a positive impact of the neighbourhood effects in the range of 15 to 20 additional PV units installed per year per POA. A publicly accessible tool was developed with this study that can aid policymakers in exploring the socio-economic indicators identified in this analysis as predictors of the diffusion of the technology for effective policies, regulations, and schemes.
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Australia is a global leader in residential rooftop PV deployment, with more than 3 million small-scale PV systems installed, among the highest per capita rooftop PV penetration worldwide.
“Australia is now a global leader in residential rooftop PV deployment, with more than 3 million small-scale PV systems installed, among the highest per capita rooftop PV penetration worldwide [1][2][3].”
From Voltage Regulation in Rooftop PV-Rich Distribution Networks: A Review and Detailed Case Study (2026) · cites this paper as [2]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Fuentes, P. M. J., Khalilpour, K., & Voinov, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Technology Sydney (AU)
- University of Twente (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Fuentes, Paul Marty Jordan
- Venue
- Energy Research & Social Science
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-10
- Volume
- 116
- Pages
- 103695
- ISSN
- 2214-6296 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4401233537
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 11.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Energy Research & Social Science (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- University of Twente Research Information (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Innovation Diffusion and Forecasting
- Keywords
- solar photovoltaic adoption, residential solar energy, neighborhood effects, socio-economic determinants, feed-in tariffs, technology diffusion, demographic predictors, household income, housing density
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