Consumer preferences for local renewable electricity production in Japan: A choice experiment

Recently, new electricity operators have rapidly emerged in Japan after the total liberalisation of the electricity retail market in 2016. These operators have advertised various potential benefits that their renewable electricity production can offer, including local dissemination of renewable electricity, local energy self-support, and vitalisation of the local economy. However, there is limited literature globally, as well as in Japan, concerning electricity consumers' preferences regarding the geographic location of renewable electricity production.This study aimed to analyse consumer preferences for local production of renewable energy to narrow the gap in the literature. The willingness-to-pay value for local renewable electricity production was 44.7% higher than that of renewable electricity produced in other areas, with the values being JPY 9.1 and JPY 6.3 for 1% increases, respectively. Women and older people had greater preference for renewable electricity. Energy security was predicted to have a negative impact on the installation of renewable electricity.(c) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.