Adoption of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Technology in Residential Sectional-Title and Townhouse Community Schemes Market in South Africa

Abstract

The research was undertaken based on the experienced load-shedding and power outages in SouthAfrica. It was observed that other market segments, such as commercial real estate, businesses,industries, and residential customers with standalone houses, have adopted solar PV technology tomitigate the impact of load-shedding and power outages. The research was undertaken to identifyand analyse the factors hindering or facilitating solar PV technology adoption and identify activities ofresponsive business model elements that can facilitate solar PV system installation in the residentialsectional-title and townhouse community schemes in South Africa. A qualitative research approachwas used to undertake the study.The research conducted on the factors hindering and facilitating solar PV technology adoption in thesectional-title and townhouse community schemes segment of the residential market in South Africahas revealed significant insights. The study identified many barriers that impede the widespreadadoption of solar PV systems in these community schemes. These barriers encompass social andstakeholder collaboration challenges, institutional, policy, and legislative hurdles, financialconstraints, limitations in land, building, and roof resources, technical and technological obstacles, aswell as company resources and operational barriers.On the contrary, the study also sheds light on various factors that facilitate the adoption of solar PVtechnology in these residential communities. These facilitating factors include the impact of load-shedding on the demand for backup solutions like solar PV, the influence of social, stakeholder, andindustry players in driving awareness and engagement, the role of incentives, policy, and legislativeinstruments in promoting solar PV investment, the principle of economies of scale in driving adoptionin larger communities, and the perceived benefits of solar PV adoption across economic,environmental, social, and energy security domains.The research question focused on exploring the activities of a responsive business model that canfacilitate solar PV system installation in the residential sectional-title and townhouse communityschemes in South Africa. The study findings revealed two business models, i.e., the customer-ownedbusiness model (COBM) and the third-party-owned business model (TPOBM).