Designing citizen renewable energy projects for women : Evidence from a choice experiment in Germany

Abstract

Citizen renewable energy projects address the growing need for scaling up renewable energy generation. Considering the underrepresentation of women in energy transition topics, we investigate women's intention to participate in such projects, specifically which factors are most impactful for motivating women as compared to men. We employ a stated choice approach to assess the impact of a variety of variables including energy source, type of organization, minimal investment, expected annual return on investment, capital commitment period, average risk of capital loss, intensity of participation opportunity, composition of active participants and geographic expansion. The results highlight the importance of correctly setting minimal investments and risk expectations for both women and men. We find that women choose projects with higher female participation rates and are less motivated by higher expected annual return of investment than men. Implications for higher involvement of women in the energy transition are discussed.