TY - JOUR
T1 - Public preferences for renewable energy options
T2 - A choice experiment in Kenya
AU - Oluoch, Sydney
AU - Lal, Pankaj
AU - Susaeta, Andres
AU - Wolde, Bernabas
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the technical support received from Strathmore University, Nairobi. Kenya.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Kenya has made considerable policy efforts to expand its renewable energy portfolio to meet energy demand and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Development of proper policies requires a robust framework for analyzing the benefits of renewable energy investments. Towards this end, this study applied a choice experiment analysis to determine how attributes (type of energy, ownership, impact on environment, distance and visibility, community job creation, and yearly renewable energy tax) impact the public willingness to pay for renewable energy development in Kenya. A nationwide survey of 1020 households was conducted in nine counties using conditional logit (MNL) and random parameter logit (RPL) frameworks. The results reveal that the Kenyan public places a high value on environmental impact, followed by type of renewable energy and community job creation, respectively. On the other hand, respondents do not place much emphasis on ownership or distance and visibility. Policy simulation suggests that while renewable energy adoption is highly valued by households, the total willingness to pay is not enough to cover the higher capital cost for the development of various renewable energy technologies.
AB - Kenya has made considerable policy efforts to expand its renewable energy portfolio to meet energy demand and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Development of proper policies requires a robust framework for analyzing the benefits of renewable energy investments. Towards this end, this study applied a choice experiment analysis to determine how attributes (type of energy, ownership, impact on environment, distance and visibility, community job creation, and yearly renewable energy tax) impact the public willingness to pay for renewable energy development in Kenya. A nationwide survey of 1020 households was conducted in nine counties using conditional logit (MNL) and random parameter logit (RPL) frameworks. The results reveal that the Kenyan public places a high value on environmental impact, followed by type of renewable energy and community job creation, respectively. On the other hand, respondents do not place much emphasis on ownership or distance and visibility. Policy simulation suggests that while renewable energy adoption is highly valued by households, the total willingness to pay is not enough to cover the higher capital cost for the development of various renewable energy technologies.
KW - Choice experiment
KW - Kenya
KW - Renewable energy
KW - Sub-Saharan Africa
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103689614&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105256
DO - 10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105256
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85103689614
SN - 0140-9883
VL - 98
JO - Energy Economics
JF - Energy Economics
M1 - 105256
ER -
