Socioeconomic determinants of solar energy adoption and installed capacity in urban areas of Kano State, Nigeria

The ongoing efforts to mitigate climate change resulting from the greenhouse effect will yield the desired result by adopting green energy. Surprisingly, the socioeconomic factors that determine the size of solar energy installations have not been adequately studied by the existing studies. This research was conducted to investigate the extent of Solar Home Systems' adoption and socioeconomic factors that determine both households’ adoption and the capacity of solar energy installations in urban areas of Kano State, Nigeria. Survey research was employed using a cross-sectional study design. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 400 household heads in the metropolitan area of Kano State, Nigeria. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Logit, and Tobit models. The results revealed that 31.25 percent of the households adopted solar energy. The Logit regression result showed that the socioeconomic variables, such as education of the household head, household expenditure, and market access, positively influenced the adoption of solar energy at a 1 percent significance level. However, the age of the family head and family size negatively influenced the adoption of solar energy at a 1 percent level of significance. The Tobit model results revealed that the education of the household head, market access, and household expenditure positively influenced the size of solar installation at the 1 percent level of significance. The variable financial inclusion increased the size of solar energy installation at 5 percent level of significance. Conversely, the age of the family head negatively influenced the size of solar energy installation at a 1 percent level of significance. Therefore, subsidizing the production of solar energy materials will reduce the installation cost so that low-income groups can afford to adopt solar energy.