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Zhen et al. Carbon Footprints 2024;3:7 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/cf.2023.50 Page 13 of 17

understanding relevant knowledge may be more effective for these households than subsidies, as highlighted
by the theory of planned behavior, attitude, and subjective self-regulation of new energy, which are more
likely to drive their adoption and other low-carbon behaviors.

Village-level factors
Additionally, we found that implementing policies such as photovoltaic poverty alleviation and whole-
county photovoltaics at the village level did not significantly increase the installation of household
photovoltaics by rural households. Previous studies have shown that photovoltaic poverty alleviation can
[44]
improve rural energy poverty , increase the cleanliness and energy affordability of farmers’ energy
consumption, and promote rural energy transformation .
[10]
Meanwhile, village committees, as representatives of grassroots power in rural China, have played an
[45]
important role in waste separation and bioenergy promotion . However, their efforts in photovoltaic
[46]
poverty alleviation and countywide photovoltaic pilots have not significantly increased the installation rate
of distributed PV among villagers. The possible explanation for this phenomenon may lie in the
abovementioned phenomenon: A majority of households (95.1%) that install distributed PV opt for the
resident-led or enterprise-led modes, while a mere 4.9% choose the village-led mode.

The variable of “college-graduate village official” has a significant negative impact. The estimated results of
the Logit model show that, holding other variables constant, the installation rate of distributed PV in
villages with college-graduate village officials is only 2% of those without such officials (β = -4.012, odds
ratio = 0.02, P < 0.001). The possible reason may be that non-local officials in rural China may find it
challenging to gain the trust of local residents, especially when implementing policies that may cause
conflicts of interest . A limited term of office is not enough for them to integrate into the existing local
[47]
network based on blood and clan .
[48]

DISCUSSION
Over the past decade, China has allocated substantial financial resources for the development of distributed
PV in rural areas, leading to remarkable increase in installed capacity of distributed PV systems. However,
further efforts are still needed to promote the development of distributed PV in rural China. In this study,
we investigated the status, challenges, and influential factors of distributed PV adoption in rural areas of
Shandong province. Compared to previous research, we have some new findings, including that
household income and social norms do not have a significant impact on distributed PV adoption. Results
show that households that had participated in earlier energy retrofitting actions, such as coal-to-gas and
coal-to-electricity conversions, have a higher motivation to install distributed PV systems. Our study also
reveals that having well-defined policy objectives can effectively stimulated the growth of distributed PV. In
addition, establishing national-level installation standards for distributed PV is needed, which can help
prevent quality issues that may arise due to commercial interests.

Our findings highlight the pivotal role of access to finance in facilitating rural households to invest in
distributed PV systems, as the initial costs can be substantial. Several measures can be utilized, such as
government subsidies, low-interest loans, and innovative financing models. In particular,
streamlining the loan approval process through financial institutions like banks can enhance the
accessibility of loans for households. In addition, it is essential to strengthen the maintenance of
photovoltaic equipment by companies to ensure the smooth operation of distributed PV systems. Actually,
the adoption mode, maintenance, and equipment quality are interconnected and should be considered
collectively. Summarizing the experiences of pilot programs and gathering user feedback on various modes,