Community Solar and Low-income Solar Adoption

Last registered on August 28, 2017
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Community Solar and Low-income Solar Adoption
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002400
Initial registration date
August 28, 2017

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
August 28, 2017, 5:57 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
South Carolina

Primary Investigator

Name
Bryan Bollinger
Affiliation
Duke University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Steven Sexton
PI Affiliation
Duke University
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PI Name
Kenneth Gillingham
PI Affiliation
Yale University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2017-09-01
End date
2018-09-01
Keywords
Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
pro-social, price, information, word-of-mouth
JEL code(s)
Q4
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The market for residential solar panels in the United States is growing rapidly, bolstered by substantial government support at the federal, state, and local levels. Yet there are concerns that this support is primarily benefiting wealthier households, due to different electricity rates, liquidity constraints, landlord-tenant issues, length of tenancy, and perhaps even preferences (Borenstein and Davis 2016, Borenstein 2017). Accordingly, there has been increasing interest by policymakers and other stakeholders in expanding the adoption of solar to low and moderate income (LMI) households.

Community shared solar (henceforth, “community solar”) can help reduce up-front costs of installation, and also removes the need for a rooftop suitable for solar. It also allows households to still leverage economies of scale when they themselves have lower electricity needs. Thus it may be more attractive to LMI households. Furthermore, by providing a product that expands the markets to households that may not be able to install rooftop solar, we expect to see additional word-of-mouth and thus more total adoption of both community solar and rooftop solar.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bollinger, Bryan, Kenneth Gillingham and Steven Sexton. 2017. "Community Solar and Low-income Solar Adoption ." AEA RCT Registry. August 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2400-1.0
Former Citation
Bollinger, Bryan, Kenneth Gillingham and Steven Sexton. 2017. "Community Solar and Low-income Solar Adoption ." AEA RCT Registry. August 28. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2400/history/20937
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
In each municipality we are running a behavioral intervention designed to encourage solar adoption. This intervention is called a "Solarize" campaign, and it involves a roughly 18-week campaign, a single chosen solar installation company (based on a competitive bidding process), discount pricing, a kick-off event, solar open houses, tabling at town events, designated volunteer solar ambassadors who coordinate the campaign with SmartPower. The intervention is specifically designed to foster word-of-mouth and social interaction effects. The difference between the two types of campaigns we will run is that one will include a focus on community solar, as well as rooftop solar, in all of the materials given by SmartPower to the ambassadors and potential solar customers.
Intervention Start Date
2017-09-01
Intervention End Date
2018-03-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The key outcome variables are solar adoption (both rooftop and community solar), and mediating and moderating factors that influence adoptions such as word of mouth.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Municipalities will be randomly assigned (after first matching towns for each treatment arm) to one of two campaign types. The sample size for the first round is 16 treated plus 8 control municipalities. Starts will be staggered with the matched towns starting at approximately the same time.

SCE&G collects data on all residential solar installations in their coverage area as well as the community solar adoptions.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Coin flip to assign towns after initial matching.
Randomization Unit
Randomization is at the municipality level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
24 municipalities
Sample size: planned number of observations
24 municipalities
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
8 municipalities receive rooftop campaign
8 municipalities receive rooftop+community solar campaign
8 municipalities are in the control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Yale Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2016-09-23
IRB Approval Number
1608018306
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials