Income Trends of Residential Solar Adopters

The residential photovoltaic (PV) market has expanded rapidly over the past decade, but questions exist about how equitably that growth has occurred across income groups. Prior studies have investigated this question but are often limited by narrow geographic study regions, now-dated analysis timeframes, or coarse estimates of PV-adopter incomes. At the same time, a spate of new programs and initiatives, as well as innovations in business models and product design, have emerged in recent years with the aim of making solar more accessible and affordable to broader segments of the population. Yet, many of those efforts are proceeding without robust underlying information about the income characteristics of recent residential PV adopters.

A new report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory offers insights into the income trends of residential solar adopters, with some emphasis on low- and moderate-income households. It is the most comprehensive analysis of this type to date, and one of few to utilize household-level income estimates.

In this webinar, report authors discussed their findings. Their presentations were followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Presenters:

• Galen Barbose, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Naïm Darghouth, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Diana Chace, Clean Energy States Alliance (moderator)

This webinar was presented by CESA as part of the Sustainable Solar Education Project.

Event Materials:

• Income Trends of Residential PV Adopters: An analysis of household-level income estimates