A sociocultural study on solar photovoltaic energy system in India: Stratification and policy implication

• Main Authors: Padmanathan, K., Govindarajan, U., Ramachandaramurthy, V.K., Rajagopalan, A., Pachaivannan, N., Sowmmiya, U., Padmanaban, S., Holm-Nielsen, J.B., Xavier, S., Periasamy, S.K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2020

Cleaner production is a simple defensive mechanism to protect the environment from pollution and depletion of resources. It is also envisioned to minimise the waste and capitalise on natural resources with effective utilization. Solar energy is a natural resource which can be converted into electricity using photovoltaic (PV) system. This article sheds insights on the implementation of solar PV system with interdisciplinary views and analyse motives and barriers for PV adoption by different citizen groups in India. A survey was conducted to understand the people's perception on solar PV energy system and to determine the level of acceptability among the citizens. The survey information was synthesised and consolidated from various perspectives and the result consigns the research findings into technical, human and socio-economic components. The findings were synthesised through cross-cultural, comparative and mixed-method research outcomes by means of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), Dendrogram diagram and biplot interpretation. Statistical tools such as ‘IBM-SPSS Amos’ and ‘R’ language programming were also used to interpret the results. This article concludes by specifying the barriers that limit the retrofitting interventions, suggests possible measures and policies to overcome such barriers and promote solar energy in India. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd