How Solar Knowledge Spreads: Who learns what, from whom, and how?

Non-hardware “soft” costs now account for about 60% of the cost of a residential solar PV system. As part of the US Department of Energy Solar Energy Evolution and Diffusion Studies 2 (SEEDS2) program, a team of researchers led by the University of Texas at Austin has worked to understand how best practices related to solar installation, permitting, and customer acquisition are transmitted. The project examined how solar information and best practices spread through knowledge “spillovers,” what kind of solar knowledge is most likely spillover, and how decisionmakers can design policy to facilitate the spread of solar knowledge and drive down solar soft costs. This webinar, hosted by the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA), presented the findings of this research, including network structures and strategies that promote solar knowledge transfer, organizational capacity building, and innovation.

Presenters:

• Varun Rai, PhD, Energy Institute Director and Associate Dean for Research at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
• Ariane Beck, PhD, Research Fellow at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin

Moderator: Nate Hausman, Project Director, CESA