Solar Energy Consumption by Domestic Users

Abstract

The use of solar energy offers social, economic, and environmental benefits to the user. Solar energy is considered to be safe for the environment, minimmise carbon emissions, naturally available, easy and economical in terms of maintenance, avail Government subsdisied, durable and suitable to modern-lifestyle. These merits of solar energy influence the common man, business entities large or small to adopt this natural, green and alternative energy source. This study aims to analyse the primary reasons domestic consumers state for accepting solar energy source. To meet the objective of the study both literature survey and primary data analysis were conducted. Thus, this article is based on both descriptive and exploratory data analysis methodology. A survey was conducted among 890 solar panel users in Coimbatore city. Article found that own house residents prefer to adopt solar energy system influenced by the reasons like: environmental concerns of self (81.64 per cent), an alternative source of energy (66.12 per cent), less expensive than power from a utility (lower price) (87.84 per cent), easily available (easy to buy) (77.84 per cent) and very easy to use (88.32 per cent). The article concludes with the key note that by education common man on the benefits of adopting clear and environmentally friendly solar energy they can realise number of benefits and should be motivated with user friendly policies cum offering monetary benefits to household consumers for voluntary adoption of solar energy generator.

Introduction

I. Overview

Solar energy is emerging as a key green energy solution in India, with high potential for rooftop solar generation (637 GW), especially among 25 crore Indian households. However, only 2.7 GW is currently generated by households, with most solar power concentrated in seven states. Solar energy's share in India’s electricity mix has grown from 1% in 2017 to 5% in 2022 and is projected to reach 25% by 2032. The Indian government aims to install 10 million household rooftop systems to provide 300 free units of electricity per home.

II. Purpose of the Study

The study investigates the motivating factors influencing domestic consumers’ adoption of rooftop solar energy, considering its social, economic, and environmental benefits.

III. Methodology

• Design: Descriptive and exploratory.

• Data Collection: Survey of 890 solar users in Coimbatore.

• Analysis: Meta-analysis of literature + primary data (descriptive stats and ANOVA).

IV. Literature Insights

Key factors influencing solar energy adoption include:

• Lack of grid access (Mishra & Behera, 2016)

• Electricity shortages (Kansal et al., 2017)

• Price and tech influence (Tamilmani et al., 2018)

• Financial incentives (Kumar et al., 2020)

• Consumer perceptions and lifestyle compatibility (Roy & Mohapatra, 2021; Kumar et al., 2022)

• Demographics and satisfaction (Bhandari & Jnawali, 2023; Kaur & Sharma, 2025)

V. Results

• Demographics: Equal male-female split; majority are aged 24–55 and married.

• Top Influencing Factors (Ranked):

  1. Environmental concerns

  2. Financial benefits

  3. Alternative energy source

  4. Climate suitability

  5. Reliability and better features than utility power

• Less Influencing Factors: Government subsidies, easy availability, and ease of use ranked lower.

VI. ANOVA Findings

• Statistically significant differences exist between rented and own-home residents regarding reasons for adopting solar energy.

• Factors like environmental concern, cost, utility comparison, and ease of use vary in importance between the two groups.

• All tested variables were significant at the 5% level, confirming differences in adoption motivations.

Conclusion

India is a sunshine wealth nation. The country is steadily moving from the use of fossil-fuel-based, solid-mass-based energy to natural sunlight-based energy usage. As far as Indian past literatures and research work provide evidences that the domestic electricity consumers adoption of solar energy for the day-to-day electrification purposes is primarily based on their demographic cum social-economic status. Similarly, domestic household consumers\'adoption of solar energy is influenced by many factors like: environmental consciousness (87 per cent), financial benefits (86 per cent) and considering solar energy as the best alternative energy source (79.80 per cent). The article inferred that own-house owners and rented-house residents differ from one to another. The domestic consumers of solar energy are divided into two sections based on their residential status, i.e., own house residents and rented house inhabitants. It was found that own house residents prefer to adopt solar energy system influenced by the reasons like: environmental concerns of self (81.64 per cent), an alternative source of energy (66.12 per cent), less expensive than power from a utility (lower price) (87.84 per cent), easily available (easy to buy) (77.84 per cent) and very easy to use (88.32 per cent). Whereas the rented house residents stated that they have adopted solar energy influenced by the reasons like: financial benefits (84.34 per cent), influenced by solar energy features (88.68 per cent), lower adoption cost (easy to use) (88.26 per cent), solar better features than power from a utility (greater benefits) (86.90 per cent), more reliable source of energy (85.44 per cent), encouraging Government subsidies (68.86) and very suitable for Indian climate conditions (64.52 per cent). The article concludes with the key note that by education common man on the benefits of adopting clear and environmentally friendly solar energy they can realise number of benefits and should be motivated with user friendly policies cum offering monetary benefits to household consumers for voluntary adoption of solar energy generator. These steps will support the Government of India to achieve its target of producing 500 GW of solar energy in the near future i.e., by 2030 and meet the environmental safety norms committed at COP (Conference of Parties) Hauge, Netherland.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Dr. S. Devi Priya . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.