Детерминанты намерения использовать зеленую микрогенерацию: эмпирическое исследование среди российских домохозяйств

The tremendous growing demand for energy is predicted by different analytical companies and energy associations. And that is why every country is highly concerned about the ways of satisfying that demand. In addition to that, people all over the globe have the rising concerns about the environmental problems. The world has faced with global temperature rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, glacial retreat and many more.
The world energy sector future is already clear and visible. Under the pressure of changes in energy policies, environmental requirements, and development of new technologies, we are entering the 4th energy transition phase. The main feature of the transition is the shift in energy mix from the fossil fuels to the clearer sources of energy. The renewable energy sources take the leading place in the development of new energy systems. However, the pace of all the changes and the speed of transition are associated with high uncertainty and significant investments.
The leading energy companies all over the world has already started to expand their activities in the renewable sources field. Some of them implement changes in the production phase, some even creating the new business modes that connected to the production and selling the green energy. International oil and gas majors started to be more interested in the investment portfolios expansion. At the same time, Russian energy companies are still standing aside from the trends.
Today, one of the main challenges for Russia is the growing inefficiency of the electricity sector, which leads to higher tariffs and prices for electricity for consumers. Development of the country is mainly based on the energy-intensive production; thus, it can be the restraining factor for the further growth. The challenge is worsened by the fact that nowadays consumers are becoming more demanding regarding the availability, reliability, and quality of electricity.
One of the main promising direction for the renewable energy development in Russia is implementation of RES into the energy system. That could be done by several ways:
− Creation of RES generation power plants instead of the traditional once to supply the residential and industrial sectors;
− Development of micro-grid generation based on RES to supply electricity to small or remote settlements;
− Development of the prosumers – individuals (residentials) that produce energy from RES for their own consumption and who could sell the surplus to the main energy system.
For this point of time, the topic about the implementation of renewables into the energy system of Russia was primarily considered from the companies and government point of view. The main restricting factors, investment attractiveness, possible scenarios for development were
identified by the researchers. However, it is worth to highlight that a major part of the energy 6
system stakeholders and the individual households and consumer, that play an essential role in the demand formation. The power of the consumers attitude to the renewable energy sources may influence on the government actions and help to accelerate the transition process in Russia. Thus, investigation of the public acceptance and personal attitude to renewable energy sources in Russia is a relatively new research topic.
There are many renewable sources that could be used for the purpose of energy generation for residentials: solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, hydro, and tidal energy. Nevertheless, considering the diversity of regions, geographical specificity in Russia and the overall perception of renewables by the government, companies, and citizens, it is more appropriate to concentrate on the solar energy and solution based on this resource – solar panels. Solar energy market is very promising and growing direction, that demonstrates the remarkable reduction in price for commercials, improvement of efficiencies and convenience in usage. Thus, solar solution, such as solar panels become more and more attractive to the residentials.
The topic of consumers attitude towards RES and particularly solar energy was broadly studied by the scientists in many countries. (Aggarwal et al., 2019; Ali et al., 2020; Kowalska- Pyzalska, 2019). Due to the low popularity of renewable energy sources, a prejudice about such technologies from the governmental, business and consumer`s side and as a result low penetration of the technology in the energy market, the topic of consumers attitude towards the solar energy was poorly covered in Russia. Residential energy consumption takes a significant share of total energy consumption. The use of appliances based on the renewable energy sources is expected to improve energy efficiency and grid flexibility, which in turn leads to better grid security, lower costs, and further penetration of renewable energies into the energy system. The renewable technologies are under fast development all over the world, and it is highly important to investigate if the public is ready to adopt such technology and intent to use it.
The main goal of the master thesis will be to assess the intention to use the solar panels among residential consumers in Russia and factors that influences it. Not only legislation, but also customer acceptance restricts the overall development of RES. Awareness about the environmental problems, positive attitude to the rational consumption, acceptance of the technology and readiness to use solar power may help to accelerate the changes in the whole electricity system in Russia. Thus, it is highly important to understand whether Russian citizens are aware about the technology, its advantages, and disadvantages and ready to pay for the installation of solar panels in their homes.
The research objectives for the master thesis can be identified as follows: − To study the features of the energy transition in Russia;
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− To study the electricity market and its features in Russia, the main trends in renewable energy and the legislative framework related to microgeneration;
− To investigate the theoretical methodologies about customers attitude towards green energy sources;
− To conduct an empirical research for the investigation of Russian resident`s intention to use solar panels;
− To explore the factors that influence the intention to use solar panels;
− To do the segmentation of residents based on their attitude to green technologies, environmental habits, and sustainable innovations;
− To develop the recommendations to the companies and the Russian Federation government.
Based on the goal and objectives, the structure of the master thesis will be as follows:
In the first chapter of the research, the definition of the energy transition will be reviewed. Then the main features of the Russian electricity market, the role of renewable energy sources, particularly solar energy, in it, the opportunities of its development in Russia and the main legislative frameworks devoted to the microgeneration will be considered.
In the second chapter of the research, the main theories regarding the diffusion of innovations and consumer attitude to the new technologies, their intention to use it will be investigated and the main hypothesis for the research will be formulated.
In the third chapter of the research, the research methodology will be formulated. After that the main results of the interviews and the survey will be presented. The main descriptive statistics and the results of the structural equation modelling will be presented.
In the fourth chapter of the research, the main recommendations for the Russian companies, who produces and sells the solar panels, and the government will be proposed, and the theoretical and managerial implication will be highlighted.
For the master thesis research, the academic articles from the SCOPUS database, analytical reviews from the consulting companies and reports from energy companies, as well as articles from the journals will be used.