Crowdfunding for solar photovoltaics development: A review and forecast

Solar Photovoltaics (PV) has become one of the major trends in the energy sector for the past decade. Due to the high upfront capital expenditure needed for solar installations, new investment models and financing options have emerged in recent years. While solar financing has received increasing attention, little research has been done to explore the use of crowdfunding for PV development. This study presents a review of the crowdfunding concepts in general and crowdfunding of renewable energy specifically, and provides a system dynamics model to simulate the development potential of Solar Crowdfunding (SCF) by taking Singapore as an example. The model simulated a three-stage SCF development including the determination of potential SCF adopters, factors affecting the adoption of SCF, and factors affecting the success of SCF. The results show that under different scenarios, SCF can potentially generate a cumulative amount of $177–278 million US Dollars by the end of 2050, accounting for 2.5–4% of the total cumulative funds needed for PV installations expected in the year 2050 in Singapore. This study enriches the existing studies on solar financing and provides references for policy makers, academics and industry practitioners interested in SCF.