Solar energy adoption and diffusion in Sri Lanka: An analysis at multiple scales

This dissertation investigates Solar Home System (SHS) diffusion in rural Sri Lanka. The study analyzes the temporal aspects of the diffusion process at multiple spatial scales using quantitative, qualitative and social network data collected from interviews, questionnaires, stakeholder organizations, and additional field methods.; Adoption rates of SHS in Sri Lanka vary in space and time at different scales. Factors affecting temporal variation include availability of SHS grants and credit, tariff policy, solar company competition, meteorological conditions, the rural grid-electrification process, market awareness, and civil stability. Spatial variability in adoption rates is driven by land-ownership patterns, flood/drought risk, grid proximity and grid-promise history, distance to population centers, ethnicity, access to education and credit, village social capital/control, and wealth.; Analysis of the stages of actors' innovation-decision process from date of first awareness through opinion formation, adoption consideration and SHS-adoption decision confirms that relative date of first awareness is the strongest predictor of the length of time it takes to move through the decision process. Other key factors are distance of the decision maker's household to other adopting households in the village, her/his perceptions of village-level social capital/action and control, her/his influence brokerage in the village family-friendship network, and whether others perceive her/him as a knowledge leader. Decision-makers perceiving higher levels of village social capital and action progress more slowly through the innovation-decision process, indicating that socialization inhibits adoption decision-making.; Village-specific social network/capital/control, socioeconomic, historical and environmental factors influence actors' opinions of, reasons for, and impacts of SHS adoption. The benefits of switching to SHS from kerosene lamps and batteries depend on local conditions, such as prevalence of poisonous snakes and other wildlife and flammability of housing materials.; Overall, the study exhibits that perceptions and expectations of the social and political context among an adopting population must be counted as essential drivers of and constraints on adoption alongside established policies and extant communication channels.