Exploring the nuances in citizen willingness-to-invest in renewable energy

Abstract

To overcome financing barriers and to ensure that the progress towards energy transition will continue, alternative financing concepts are required. A promising alternative may be financial citizen participation, where private individuals will contribute to the deployment of renewable energy sources (RES) by investing via various business models and financing concepts. This paper aims to promote energy transition by informing the design of policies and strategies for mobilizing citizen investment. Specific objectives are to investigate citizens’ willingness-to-invest (WTI) and to compare the factors influencing WTI in five renewable types, wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric energy and biomass. To meet these objectives, our study collected a representative sample of 1,536 citizens in Greece, an EU member state that stands at a critical point in energy transition due to financing barriers and social opposition to renewable projects. Our results showed that most citizens were willing to invest, but would invest mainly low sums pointing at the need to establish investment mechanisms suitable for citizens. Moreover, the factors influencing willingness-to-invest differ significantly for each renewable type highlighting the need to leverage this differentiation in marketing strategies. While perceived barriers and economic motives were important for almost all renewable types, environmental attitudes were less influential suggesting that strategies using the argument of environmental benefits may be ineffective. Findings from this study provide a precise idea on the factors affecting WTI in five renewable types and can offer significantly higher precision for the design of policies and strategies aiming at mobilizing citizen investment in renewables.