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Zhen et al. Carbon Footprints 2024;3:7 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/cf.2023.50 Page 3 of 17

influenced individual adoption of distributed PV, while a decrease in income negatively affected adoption
rates. Agir et al. examined the opportunities and challenges of photovoltaics in rural areas from the
[28]
perspective of farmers . They revealed that mutual mistrust between stakeholders considerably declined
households’ willingness to adopt distributed PV. Kabir’s research indicates that a comprehensive
understanding of the impacts of energy or environmental projects on stakeholders and enhancing
[29]
cooperation and communication among them are crucial for successful implementation . Furthermore,
Wu et al. developed a research framework encompassing the entire life cycle of rural distributed PV to
identify obstacles to distributed PV adoption . They indicated that imperfect policies, shrinking subsidies,
[30]
exorbitant investment, and poor equipment quality jeopardized the development of rural distributed PV.
However, existing studies have primarily focused on foreign countries, and there is a limited exploration of
the overall development status, driving factors, and challenges of distributed PV in rural China, as well as
how regional-specific factors contribute to adoption choices.

In this study, by conducting a household survey in Shandong Province, China, we uncover the critical
aspects concerning the development of distributed PV in rural areas of Shandong Province, which
contributes to a more in-depth understanding of the development of distributed PV in China and provides
insights into its future development. Our survey covered 184 households from 36 villages in Shandong
Province. The remainder of this study is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces our research methods,
including survey design and data. Section 3 presents the current situation and challenges of distributed PV
in Shandong Province. Section 4 discusses the results and implications for fostering distributed PV in rural
China. Section 5 shows the conclusions of this study.

METHODS AND DATA
In this study, we have developed a research framework to guide our investigation [Figure 1]. This
framework provides a structured roadmap that outlines the main components and stages of our research
process.

Study area
This study employs survey data collected from questionnaires for rural households and village committees
in Shandong Province, China, in 2023. Located in eastern China, Shandong Province has abundant solar
[24]
radiation resources and PV development potential . In 2021, Shandong Province ranked first in China in
total installed PV capacity, with 14.92 million kilowatts of distributed PV connected to the grid . This
[31]
survey covered all prefecture-level cities in Shandong Province, except for Weihai, Liaocheng, and Laiwu
(with a total coverage rate of 82.4%). At least one village in each city was included in this survey. The village
locations are displayed in Figure 2.

Questionnaire design
Our research team drafted the questionnaire, which has been revised based on suggestions provided by
experts with extensive experience in rural surveys. To avoid possible misunderstandings and assess the
effectiveness of the face-to-face household survey, our team conducted a small-scale pilot survey including
village committees of four villages and ten households. The household survey includes information on
demographic variables, household energy consumption, related perceptions, distributed PV installation, and
use status. The village committee survey involves basic village information, village energy consumption,
related policies, and the development of distributed PV.

Survey and sampling method
The survey included questionnaires for farmers and village committees to understand the installation of
Distributed PV in households and villages, respectively. Respondents were randomly selected from among