Naomi Hubert
Behavioral barriers inhibiting efficient consumption of self-produced solar energy at Dutch prosumer homes
As households are responsible for more than 26% of final energy consumption in the European Union (relying largely on fossil fuels), encouraging the switch to solar panels could be an effective solution for households to reduce their CO2 emissions. This way, households can substitute their consumption of fossil fuel for energy needs by self-consuming their self-produced electricity. Moreover, household self-consumption could help reduce energy losses in the transmission system as well as congestion problems at peak hours, since less excess solar energy would have to be fed back into the grid. However, the potential of solar panels would only be maximized if prosumers also used their energy efficiently, by matching self-production to self-consumption (minimizing their energy need from the grid as much as possible). Yet, prosumers currently self-consume only about 35% of self-produced energy, whilst the excess is exported to the grid. Drawbacks of this system include additional costs for grid reinforcements, as current grids are not yet built to deal with large and sudden peaks of solar energy inflow.
As storage options are still rather expensive and need improvement, the most efficient way to realize a better match between self-production and self-consumption is through prosumer behavior change. However, studies show that this is difficult for prosumers. For instance, Dutch households do not seem to reduce their electricity use when PV production is low or shift usage when PV production is high, even those with good intentions. Dutch policy-makers aim to solve this problem by changing legislation from 2023 onwards, making it less financially attractive for prosumers to feed their self-produced electricity back into the grid and thus hopefully incentivizing them to self-consume. However, understanding of the reasons why many households use their solar energy inefficiently is still very limited. For example, psychological (motivation, effort) or socio-demographic characteristics may play a role, and a financial incentive may not be enough to overcome these barriers.
With my thesis project I hope to contribute to a better understanding of the behavioral factors that influence (in)efficient solar energy usage in Dutch prosumer homes. Importantly, individual behavior should be combined with the broader system in which it occurs. If more insight is gained into not only the individual but also the cultural, socio-economic and institutional factors that influence energy consumption, strategies to encourage efficient solar energy use can be tailored to these factors to help create policies that are well-informed by behavioral science.
• Leden van het Comite: Gerdien de Vries (eerste begeleider), Linda Kamp (tweede begeleider), Katharina Biely (daily supervisor).
