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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 24th Aug 2026, 01:51:52am WEST

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Daily Overview

Session

Renewable Energy 4: Evidence from Different Choice Modelling
Location: B133
Session Chair: Kumai Kokash, University of Kassel

Presentation 1

Public support for solar power development in Japan: a choice experiment

Mihoko Wakamatsu¹, Akinori Kitsuki²

1: Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Japan; 2: Kyushu University, Japan

Discussant: Tom Schütte (University of Kassel)

Solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment is expanding rapidly in Japan, yet concerns about landscape change, disaster risk, and biodiversity impacts may undermine social acceptance. This study quantifies residents’ preferences for solar PV promotion policies using a discrete choice experiment. Choice tasks varied five attributes: visibility of solar panels within residential areas, changes in landslide risk, negative effects on wildlife, additional CO2 emission reductions (3–7%), and a monthly increase in the electricity bill (50–2,000 yen). We estimate a mixed logit model with random coefficients to capture preference heterogeneity and derive willingness-to-pay (WTP) measures. To examine observed heterogeneity, we regress individual-specific parameters on sociodemographic characteristics, and we assess geographic clustering in WTP using hot spot analysis. The results show strong aversion to localized externalities. Median WTP to avoid increased landslide risk and negative wildlife impacts is −47.6 yen/month and −41.3 yen/month, respectively. Respondents value climate benefits, with positive WTP for additional CO2 reductions (1.99 yen/month per percentage point). Landscape visibility has no significant average effect but exhibits substantial heterogeneity, indicating that visual impacts are highly context dependent. Cost produces the largest disutility and varies widely across individuals. Spatial analyses reveal non-uniform geographic patterns in WTP. The findings suggest that socially sustainable solar expansion requires stricter attention to disaster and ecological risks, transparent communication of expected CO2 reductions, and geographically targeted siting and mitigation strategies.