Journal of Building Engineering 28 (2020) 101016

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Journal of Building Engineering

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jobe

Benefits of solar photovoltaic systems for low-income families in social

housing of Korea: Renewable energy applications as solutions to
energy poverty
Joohyun Lee a, *, Mardelle McCuskey Shepley b
a
LEED AP, University Lecturer, 23, Dongil-ro 215-gil, Nowon-gu, Seoul, South Korea
b
Department of Design and Environmental Design, Cornell University, United States

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the Korean government’s sustainable energy policy
Social housing providing solar photovoltaic (PV) systems for low-income households living in public rental apartments in
Low-income household metropolitan Seoul. To assess the solar PV system’s effectiveness as a government-initiated tool to provide the
Energy poverty
energy poor with reliable, affordable energy, the present study sought different kinds of information: government
Solar PV
Renewable energy
energy policy analyses through published reports, and surveys and focus group interviews of tenants, installers,
and public officials. Results show the government’s efforts switching from fossil fuels to renewable energies for
CO2 savings, part of which was to support low-income households with solar panels on verandas. Electricity bill
reduction and government funding for the system were found to be the most important motivations for installing
solar PVs in their houses. The tenants showed overall satisfaction with their PV systems including its installation
process, their participation in the government sustainable energy policy, and the design and quality of solar PV
generators. However, their satisfaction level had dropped regarding the system’s capacity and actual energy bill
reductions. Future studies are recommended on larger samples over long term perspectives, ongoing post-
installation education and energy consumption feedback, and smart technologies added to PV systems
including smart grids, meters, sensors as performance checkers and enhancers.

1. Introduction
There has been an increased awareness of “energy poverty” as an
important global issue critical to basic needs for better living conditions.
Approximately 1.1 billion people in developing and developed countries
suffer lack of or no access to electricity [1]. This negatively affects health
and well-being. Energy poverty is defined as a situation in which in­
dividuals or households spend more than 10% of their income on energy
costs including electricity, heating, and cooling [2].
Solving energy poverty has been widely discussed in energy related
research [3,4]. For the past decades, energy burden for low-income
households has increased due to fluctuating prices of fossil fuels,
outdated appliances, and energy inefficient homes compared with
middle- and upper-income households [5]. The supplied energy for
low-income households should be reliable, affordable, and accessible
[3]. The problems surrounding energy poverty should be addressed in a
systematic and comprehensive manner with policies switching from
simple fuel supply to affordable and locally sourced low carbon energy
supply [4].
Given this shift, some authors argue that our approach should be to
provide communities with the capacity and training to solve their own
energy problems [1,6]. They emphasize the potential benefits of
renewable energy: it not only reduces costs for the fuel poor but also
increases energy security and environmental benefits in the medium-
and long-term planning of energy welfare. Significant renewable energy
systems have grown internationally for the past several years with
support of various governmental clean energy initiatives or policies to
decrease hardware costs and increase generation efficiency [7,8]. Wind
and solar powers are among those that generate power without any
emissions during operation. There have been efforts to increase the
productivity and sustainability of these renewable energy systems by
assessing their performances under different climate conditions and to
find their proper locations and sizes [9,10]. Besides the environmental
benefits of renewable energy, its economic benefits contribute to solving

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: joohyunlee5@gmail.com (J. Lee).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2019.101016
Received 7 July 2019; Received in revised form 10 October 2019; Accepted 20 October 2019
Available online 23 October 2019
2352-7102/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J. Lee and M.M. Shepley
energy poverty by securing affordable energy access [7]. In addition, the
installation of renewable energy systems to existing buildings with
policy interventions and market-based instruments is considered a
mainstream solution to realize sustainable buildings besides high per­
formance building construction and renovation [11].
Among such renewable energy technologies for existing buildings,
installing solar PVs is considered to have several benefits: the systems
offset energy costs, reduce the environmental impact and CO2 emis­
sions, and contribute to energy independence [12–16]. Solar panels in
buildings are expected to grow due to their increased performance and
decreased capital costs and stronger governmental energy policies [7,8].
High visibility of PVs are also prone to lead people commit to renewable
energy and a greener future [17].
Furthermore, solar PV systems for individual households are
becoming more popular in many countries as a sustainable and afford­
able alternative for gaining access to electricity [1,7,18]. Researchers
found that types of motivation, economic benefits, demographic char­
acteristics, government energy policies, and financial supports affect the
adoption of residential solar PVs by low-income families, as well as local
social housing contextual considerations [19,20]. In this situation,
economic benefits of solar PV are the main motivation for the installa­
tion regardless of environmental reasons [21,22]. Affordable system
costs, quality products, and ongoing services are contributing factors in
installing solar home systems in rural locations [23,24].
However, there is limited research on universal electricity access
through solar PV installation for rural and remote areas in developing
countries where the number of people without energy access is high (e.
g., Africa and Asia). While others have investigated the effect of solar
systems on social housing contexts in wealthy and developed countries
in Europe and North America, their affiliations were heavily skewed
toward the United Kingdom [25]. In addition, the researchers’ focus is
limited to investigating solar PV user motivations for system installa­
tion, and successes and barriers of installing renewable energy systems.
Literature on user awareness and energy use behavior after the system
installation is currently limited.
To fill this gap, this study examined solar PV users’ awareness and
energy use behavior change in a new socioeconomic and geographic
context. Although energy poverty is an international problem, this study
focused on Seoul, Korea and the associated social implications. Seoul is
typical of many Asian cities and serves as a good model for application
elsewhere, and we found little evidence on the effects of solar PV on the
energy poor in densely populated urban areas.
In 2012, there were approximately 165,000 public rental housing
units in Seoul, which includes almost 5% of the total housing units in the
city [26]. These low-income residences are typically high-rise multi­
family apartment buildings. Solar PVs installed in their home verandas
are unique compared with systems installed typically on the roof or
ground. In addition, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from houses
requires a different approach because the core issue is not only new
homes but also dealing with existing homes that must rely on the indi­
vidual decision-making by homeowners. More attention needs to be
given to investigating these homeowners’ perspectives on renewable
energy system installations and the related tax incentives and govern­
ment policies that urge them to make energy decisions. More impor­
tantly, among many countries working on energy poverty, the Korean
government agrees with these international paradigm changes and has
undergone the shift towards renewable energy as a leading power gen­
eration source. The country plans to gradually phase out nuclear and
coal plants by 2030 in accordance with the 2015 Paris Agreement. The
government intends to increase its installed renewable capacity by up to
20% of total power with more emphasis on environment and safety is­
sues [14]. Given this, examining the governmental energy efforts will be
meaningful to help the energy poor in Seoul through different energy
policies and PVs.
The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of
the Korean government’s sustainable energy policy for providing solar
2
Journal of Building Engineering 28 (2020) 101016
photovoltaic (PV) systems for low-income households living in public
rental apartments in densely populated Seoul. The study focuses on the
government installed solar PV experience of public housing tenants
many of whom suffer energy poverty compared with those who volun­
tarily adopt solar PVs by purchasing or renting one. The city and district
governments have been implementing various energy welfare programs
such as energy voucher, bill reduction, and energy efficiency appliances
to meet their energy needs, and one of their efforts is solar PVs to reduce
energy costs for the low-income households.
The study examines the motivations for installing the PV system, user
satisfaction, and needs for improvement. It also investigates the PV
system’s possibility to change users’ awareness and energy-related
behavior after the PV generator installation. Through interviews with
tenants (solar PV users), installers, and government officers, the study
assesses ways to economically and sustainably improve the system and
foster more efficient government energy policies with solar PV for the
energy poor. Results from the current research will provide insights to
the use of PV systems for the energy poor and policy makers in similar
contexts.
2. Methods
To assess solar PV’s effectiveness as a government-initiated tool to
provide the energy poor in Seoul with reliable, affordable energy, the
present study sought different kinds of information. First, we collected
published government reports, research articles, and related websites to
review the government’s renewable energy policy and solutions for the
energy poverty issue. Supportive materials included Korea Renewable
Energy Plan 2030, Solar City Seoul Plan, and reports of energy con­
sumption of low-income households.
The study also surveyed and interviewed residents to investigate
their main motivations for installing government initiated solar PVs on
their apartment verandas. We examined their post-installation experi­
ence with solar PVs by comparing the experience with their pre-
installation expectations. Their operation experience and satisfaction
levels were obtained. We also explored the effectiveness of solar PV
through analyses of survey results and interviews in terms of the energy
cost reduction for low-income households as a possible solution to
further improve and solve the problem of energy poverty.
The survey of the current research was conducted with users of solar
PVs in a district (Gu) of Nowon-gu, Seoul in order to investigate key
elements of user experience (Table 1). In the studied area, about 63% of
buildings are residential. According to the statistics, the number of total
households is 220,000, of which 15,384 (13%) is low-income families.
Table 1
Survey questions.
Variables Notes
Personal Gender, age group, occupation Closed-ended question
characteristics
Solar PV user Solar PV installation date Open-ended question
experience Motivation for install solar PV 5-point Likert scale (very
Satisfaction with solar PV satisfied to very dissatisfied/
system and maintenance strongly agree to strongly
Electric bill reduction after disagree)
solar PV installation
Needs for further
improvements
Differences in awareness of
and behavior in electricity use
before and after the solar PV
installation
The amount of electricity 12 months records
production from a solar PV
Usage of electricity (kWh/
month)
Monthly electricity bills
(KRW/month)
J. Lee and M.M. Shepley
14.9% of them reside in public rental multi-family housings, which is the
highest number compared with the other 24 districts in the city (average
9.8%). More than 18% of the population is 60 years old and above [27].
It is assumed that the number of elderly people will grow rapidly in the
near future, and their energy burden will become worse than before
[28]. Thus, it is significant to examine the residents’ solar PV experience
in the selected district. The solar PV installation in this community needs
to be examined for its effectiveness as part of the Korea Sustainable
Action Plan that aims to promote the use of renewable energy and the
alleviation of energy burdens on low-income households [14].
The research was conducted from February to March 2019. In­
vitations to participate in an initial survey were distributed in a flyer
posted to housing complex bulletin boards addressed to tenants between
the ages of 20 and 75, who were operating the government installed PV
system more than 1 year. The intention was to examine differences in
electricity generation and consumption across the four seasons. Before
the start of each data collection method, participants were given printed
or online consent forms to read and sign. Flyers that contained an online
survey link were left near the bulletin board for their distribution to
residents. 103 surveys out of 300 participants who had south-facing
windows and panels on the veranda (Buildings 102, 104, and 105)
were returned and analyzed for this study. The mean response rate was
34% representing 8.4% of the apartment complex with 1230 residential
units. The low response rate was possibly due to the voluntary partici­
pation without fiscal incentive. The 5-point Likert-type scale survey
ranged from very satisfied/strongly agree at rating 5 to very dissatisfied/
strongly disagree at rating 1 and required approximately 10 min to
complete as shown in Table 1. Some variables were captured by open-
ended questions such as installation date, amount of PV electricity
generations (kWh/month) per a year, and monthly utility costs (KRW/
month).
While conducting the surveys, 23 tenants volunteered to participate
in in-depth interviews as key informants. Focus group interviews with
three to five tenants at one time were conducted to obtain resident
perceptions on their PV related experiences and the operation and
maintenance and suggestions for further improvements. A total of 10 PV
installers and government officials also participated in professional
focus group interviews to share their experiences of or opinions on the
government-led energy policies for sustainable energy welfare of low-
income households. Each focus group sessions took approximately 1 h.
To prevent a situation where tenant opinions might be influence by
those of installers and officials, interviews were conducted separately
with each group [29]. Interview notes were transcribed and coded as
needed using frequently mentioned topics. To analyze the collected
data, different statistical tools were used including descriptive statistics,
a Paired-samples t-test, and a Kruskal-Wallis test. With the
Paired-samples t-test, we analyzed differences between awareness and
behavior changes in electricity use before and after solar PV installation.
The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to look at differences between indi­
vidual groups in terms of gender, age, and occupation.
3. Results
3.1. Energy poverty and sustainable energy action plan in Korea
A review of national and municipal energy policy was first carried
out to provide a better understanding of Korean governmental energy
solutions and policies. As mentioned earlier, Korea is similar to other
countries with an increasing number of households struggling with en­
ergy poverty. These governments have attempted to reduce energy costs
for low-income households by fostering the growth of renewable energy.
Such energy policies usually adopt solar photovoltaics for low-income
households and try to make it affordable with compensation mecha­
nisms and/or energy assistance programs. Compensation mechanisms
allow customers to get reimbursed for their solar investments, while
energy assistance programs give direct incentives and financial support
3
Journal of Building Engineering 28 (2020) 101016
to low-income households by cutting energy bills to reduce their energy
burdens [30]. The Korean government adopted the latter to solve the
national energy poverty issue.
A report by the Seoul Institute analyzed the energy consumption of
4671 low-income households in Seoul. 9.5% of them were not able to
adequately heat or acquire necessary energy services for their homes at a
reasonable cost. The majority of the low-income householders were
senior citizens: 78% over 60 years old and 10% under 50 years old. More
often, elderly people were severely affected by the energy poverty issue
compared to younger ones. The report also examined winter heating
bills of low-income households in Seoul. Results showed that 13.2% of
them were defined as the energy poor, having spent 10% of their income
on energy expenditures. Almost half of these (6.2%) spent over 20% on
energy purchases [31]. Table 2 describes the fluctuating numbers of the
energy poor households for the past decade. As of 2016, the energy poor
accounted for nearly 6.6% of the total households in Korea [27]. Though
the number of such households has declined with governmental efforts,
6.6% is too significant to be ignored and the Korean government needs
to make further efforts to ensure energy welfare of low-income families.
In addition, elderly or disabled people and families with young children
need special attention due to their basic needs for affordable energy
services as they usually spend more time indoors than outdoors. Elderly
people and single-mom families spend more than 20% of their income
on energy costs [28].
To cope with these energy poor issues, the Seoul metropolitan gov­
ernment launched the Sustainable Energy Action Plan in August 2014.
As the second phase of One Less Nuclear Power Plant [32], the plan aims
to transform energy sources from nuclear power plants to renewable
energy. As of 2018, Korea operated 24 nuclear reactors that generated
one-third of the country’s electricity (23.4%, 133,505 GWh), while coal
energy provided 42.4% (241,817 GWh) [33]. Public (seven separate
initiatives) and private sectors (civic organizations and businesses) have
been working together to achieve the sustainable energy plan with three
goals: energy independence, decentralized energy systems, and sharing
through renewable energy. The plan aims to increase electricity
self-supply by 20% and 10 million-tons of greenhouse gas savings by
2020.
The most important part of the action to implement is expanding the
number of residential photovoltaic systems. The plan targets one million
households by 2022 with PV panels (551 Megawatt), which is one out of
three households [32]. This will be a significant increase considering the
fact that 64.7% of Korean buildings are residential [34]. For energy poor
residents living in public rental housings, the Korean government has
adopted solar PV generators to solve their own energy problems in more
reliable and sustainable ways.
The program aims to improve the sustainable energy production and
consumption with solar PV generators. As shown in Fig. 1, the number of
installed solar PV dramatically increased from 1777 in 2014 to 58,758 in
2018. The studied target area, Nowon-gu has the largest number of
newly installed solar PVs compared with the other 24 districts (Gu) in
the city, which was approximately 5000 as of 2017 [35]. To encourage
public participation, the Korea Electric Power Corporation (state-owned
energy corporation) also plans to purchase extra residual solar energy
from these households via the KEPCO Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
[36]. The PPA is a contract between PV installers (sellers) and KEPCO
(buyer). The PV installers sell the residual electricity to the KEPCO at a
fixed rate, which is 3 times higher than the retail rate.
The capacity of the PV system installed in their houses was 260 W as
of 2016. It is usually difficult to change solar panel locations after
installation or to install them on apartment buildings in a densely
developed city, but the Seoul government solved this installation
problem with a mini-solar PV. The small and compact sized
(1.3 � 0.7 � 0.03 m) PV panel allowed an easy installation on the
veranda of the apartment unit, where residents were expected to pro­
duce their own electricity in the homes. A micro inverter was installed
behind the PV panel to convert direct current into alternating current. A
J. Lee and M.M. Shepley
Table 2
The number of energy poor households in Korea (%).
Year 2008 2009 2010 2011
% 8.0 8.9 10.3 10.1
(Source: Korean Statistical Information Service, 2018)
Fig. 1. The number of installed solar PV units in Seoul.
plug-in meter enabled users to track electricity usage in real time
(Fig. 2). The solar PV installation on the veranda is unique compared
with other solar PVs installed on the rooftops of houses and buildings
which require an appropriate location and size.
Depending on the amount of electricity used by the households, the
solar generator produces its own electricity and helps reduce the cost.
According to the government, the 260 W-solar PV-generator produces
250–300 Kilowatt Hours per year (kWh/year), which saves
30,000–36,000 KRW per year (1 US Dollar ¼ 1100 Korean Won) [37].
An annual solar power generation from a PV system can be calculated
using a software readily available on the internet, such as Seoul Solar­
map developed by Seoul Metropolitan Government (http://solarmap.
seoul.go.kr/) (Fig. 3). For example, direct solar radiation is
1234.2 kWh/year, and PV cell efficiency is 15.53%. The estimated
amount of production in the studied location is 243.4 kWh/year
considering related factors like longitude and latitude coordinates and
PV orientation.
We modeled the studied apartments and neighboring buildings to
Fig. 2. Solar PV on the veranda.
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Journal of Building Engineering 28 (2020) 101016
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
10.6 10.6 9.2 6.7 6.6
check shadows at different times of the four seasons by using the
SketchUp tool (Fig. 4). During our visits to the study site, we noticed that
shadows were cast on solar panels. The PV panels are significantly
affected by surrounding buildings in an overly populated area since
these buildings can block sunlight to the panels on the peak hours of the
day. For this reason, simulated power generations in this area are
slightly lower than the average estimated by the government. The
detailed printout from the website is shown in Fig. 3. The installation
cost of PV panel is $450 (USD), and households are given government
subsidies of 80–90% on the cost. The Seoul Metropolitan Government
predicts the electricity cost savings will exceed the installation cost after
two years [37]. The low-income households in this study were given
100% subsides on solar PV installation costs.
3.2. Characteristics of survey participants
To further understand the socioeconomic context of the study, some
of the important characteristics of respondents are shown in Table 3.
J. Lee and M.M. Shepley Journal of Building Engineering 28 (2020) 101016

Fig. 3. Seoul Solarmap simulations.

Fig. 4. SketchUp shadow modeling.

103 individual residents from the 300 targeted households participated
in the survey. The participants were low-income families who were at or
below the 10% poverty line ($8900 in 2017 for a family of two) [27]. In
recent years, the governments had installed 300 solar PVs on their ve­
randas to improve their energy welfare. 46.5% of the surveyed tenants
were housewives due to the fact that the surveys were conducted in the
daytime on weekdays. However, as they were responsible for house­
keeping and managing household affairs, they were believed to give
accurate feedback on the effectiveness of solar PVs, especially in terms of
the economics. The majority of the unemployed respondents were over
60 years and retirees. Overall, 60.6% of the respondents belonged to the
age groups from 40 to 50.
3.3. Motivation for installing solar PV
The participants were asked to rate factors in their decision to install
solar PVs with Likert-type scales ranging from one (strongly disagree) to
five (strongly agree). Each factor had a mean response corresponding to
its importance (Fig. 5). Results show that they had the most interest in
electricity bill savings (4.55), followed by: no installation cost due to
government and civic subsidies (4.12), CO2 savings by using solar PVs
(3.62), interest in renewable energy and policies (3.13) and influence
from other neighbors with PV systems and social workers’ advice (2.14).
The interviewed residents agreed that electricity bill and greenhouse
gas savings were the prime considerations which showed their

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J. Lee and M.M. Shepley Journal of Building Engineering 28 (2020) 101016

Table 3 illustrations, and contact information. They were not given options
Characteristic of respondents (n ¼ 103). regarding the capacity or design of the system having one PV system
n % type available.
Gender Male 36 35.4
Female 67 64.6 3.4. Satisfaction with solar PV system and maintenance
Age group Under 30 0 0
31–40 18 17.7 The participants were asked to rate post-installation satisfaction
41–50 35 33.8 levels of their systems from 1 very dissatisfied (much worse than ex­
51–60 28 26.8
Above 60 22 21.7
pected) to 5 very satisfied (much better than expected). Most of the
Occupation Company worker 25 24.4 housing tenants were satisfied with solar PVs installed on the verandas
Self-employed 16 15.3 (Fig. 6). The participants’ satisfaction levels varied depending on cate­
Housewife 48 46.5 gories: the system-installation process of solar PV (4.13), participation in
Unemployed 11 10.6
the government sustainable energy action plan (3.72), design of the
Others 3 3.2
installed PV (3.66), quality of the installed PV (3.42), solar PV’s abilities
to reduce energy bills (3.24) and quality of support by installers (3.18).
understanding of the intention of the providers to reduce the environ­ Most respondents perceived that their PV systems had delivered
mental impacts as well as to assist the residents’ energy burden. On the satisfactory results as expected or better than expected. There were very
other hand, influence from other neighbors with solar PVs was minimal few users that showed dissatisfaction in relation to situations suffering
unlike voluntary adopters who purchase or rent the system. Some ten­ from reflected sunlight as glare or PVs shaded by neighboring panels.
ants reported that their social workers’ recommendation was the main However, some participants wanted solar PV generators with greater
motivation. Korean social workers regularly visit low-income house­ capacity to more effectively cut electricity bills with a longer battery life
holds to check living conditions and often promote newly adopted of the inverter and a 5-year warranty. A small number of participants
government policies such as energy voucher and solar panel installation. commented on the electrical noise emissions from the solar PV inverter.
Information or advice from these face-to-fact interactions could be an In terms of the system design, they felt that solar panels on the veranda
important factor in the residents’ decisions, especially for the elderly gave a hi-tech image to their old apartments which were built in the
who are not frequent Internet users. Most of the residents also acquired 1980s by the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH).
information on installing solar PVs through the government and posters
located in the apartment management office. A typical poster included
dates of application, brief descriptions of solar PV, example pictures/

Fig. 5. Motivation for install solar PV.

Fig. 6. Satisfaction with solar PV.

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J. Lee and M.M. Shepley Journal of Building Engineering 28 (2020) 101016

3.5. Electric bill reduction after solar PV installation Table 4

Example user bills for one year (Apr 2018–Mar 2019).
The respondents were asked to compare electric bills before and after Solar PV KEPCO meter Total energy Cost
the installation of their solar PV systems. Total electricity charges were generation consumption ¼ KEPCO savings
calculated as the sum of electricity consumption from the grid minus the - Solar PV
PVs and plus demand charge. Under the progressive electricity billing kWh kWh Cost kWh Cost (KRW) %
system, the KEPCO charge households three different rates depending (KRW)
on the total usage. Households using less than 200 Kilo watt hours (kWh) Apr 24.3 217.0 26,650 192.7 16,950 57.2
of power a month are charged with $0.08 per kWh. However, the unit May 24.5 183.0 15,890 158.5 13,340 19.1
price rises to $0.17/kWh for monthly power usage of 201–400 kWh and Jun 22.2 167.0 14,200 144.8 11,860 19.7
Jul 13.9 198.0 17,480 184.1 16,000 9.3
$0.26/kWh for more than 401 kWh [38]. Nearly 70% of them reported
Aug 15.7 274.0 38,840 258.3 35,420 9.7
that their monthly electricity bills were lower or much lower after the Sep 20.8 194.0 17,060 173.2 14,830 15.0
installation, and another 29.6% participants reported to have no change, Oct 19.2 170.0 14,510 150.8 12,490 16.2
or they don’t know (Fig. 7). Overall, a significant number of respondents Nov 19.9 197.0 17,370 177.1 15,250 13.9
perceived reductions in their electric bills after the installation of PV Dec 21.2 199.0 17,590 177.8 15,360 14.5
Jan 20.9 200.0 17,690 179.1 15,470 14.4
generators. Most of the residents also had more residential electricity Feb 19.9 208.0 24,730 188.1 16,420 50.6
savings in the summer and winter when they used more appliances such Mar 21.8 213.0 25,800 191.2 16,740 56.6
as coolers and heaters due to the progressive billing rates to lower a Mean 20.4 201.7 - 181.3 - 24.7
tiered rate for consumed electricity. 1 USD ¼ 1100 KRW
Low-income households use the average 220–280 kWh electricity
per month compared to total households’ 292–374 kWh [27]. For
more efficient use of system (3.86), inverter battery and warranty
example, a 4-person-household uses 304 kWh per month, and a solar PV
(3.37), technical details of solar PVs (2.24), and design of system (2.06).
produces 25 kWh each month. The total consumption of electricity is
As mentioned early in the study, the most important reason to install
297 kWh, and the bill decreases from $41.1 to $36.4 ($4.7 on each
solar PV for low-income. Households is utility bill reductions. However,
month, 11.4% savings) under the progressive electricity billing system
it is difficult to achieve tangible benefits as previous research has shown
[37]. Table 4 shows the user’s records of electricity produced by the
[30]. The tenants found their bill reductions were not as much as ex­
generator (kWh) and electricity cost reductions (%) for one year from
pected. The respondents mentioned that the 260 W-solar-generator is
April 2018 to March 2019. The amount of electricity production from a
not enough to alleviate their burden of energy costs. According to the
solar PV differs from season to season ranging from 14 to 25 kWh per
Seoul Metropolitan government, the generator produces an average of
month (average 20 kWh/month), and their electricity bill savings are
25 kWh per month (260 W � 3.2 h x 30 days) [37]. Low-income families
9–57% (average 25%/month). These numbers indicate that the actual
generally use more electricity compared with median-income families
electricity production is lower than the prediction by the government.
because their appliances and old homes often have inadequate levels of
The effect of bill reduction by solar PV varies considerably depending on
energy efficiency; they also have more family members than other
the amount of energy use in the households, but we could confirm that
households [27]. The users also wanted to have a systematic customer
solar PVs offset the monthly electricity load and help to reduce energy
service for ongoing support and advice on the system for their more
costs of low-income families. When demand growth increases due to
efficient use of the system.
higher than average summer or lower than average winter temperatures,
In terms of aftercare, the tenants wanted the installers to periodically
the cost reductions are expected to be much larger.
inform them about system operations and management. Independent
and situation-specific advice might be more helpful for the users. The
3.6. Needs for further improvements respondents pointed that there was no way to check whether solar PV
generators produce electricity unless checking meters. They required
We sought participants’ opinions on the needs for further improve­ more information on how to maximize the system for their cost savings.
ment as shown in Fig. 8. They rated each of the topics as follows: ca­ Several users had questions about the life expectancy of an inverter
pacity of Solar PV generators (4.15), how to maintain system (3.91),

Fig. 7. Monthly electric bill reduction after solar PV installation (%).

7
J. Lee and M.M. Shepley
Fig. 8. Needs for further improvements.
battery and when replacement is required. The results found in this
study are similar to those of other studies suggesting the importance of
maintenance and management service after solar PV installments.
User comments that were mentioned more than three times in the
focus group interviews are as follows.
� The size of the solar PV panel was larger than expected.
� The best efficiency of solar PV is obtained at the perpendicular to the
sun; the 25degree angle was set considering the shadow on the
neighbors.
� There is a slight difference between the estimated amount of power
generation in the product manual and the actual amount of power
generation in the house.
� Electricity bill reductions after solar PV installation were lower than
expected.
� Electricity generation depends on the weather, and when it is too hot
or too humid, the amount of electricity generated is low. We found
lower electricity generation in a rainy summer season but surpris­
ingly higher in spring and autumn.
� Don’t know whether the solar generator works properly. No main­
tenance service after the installation.
Fig. 9. Residential unit and floor plan.
8
Journal of Building Engineering 28 (2020) 101016
� Household solar PV does not have the ability to save electricity.
Needs a meter that turns backwards when surplus power goes into
the national grid.
� After installing solar PV, often unplug appliances when not in use.
� Need energy-saving education and information
Minor comments included user complaints about decreased natural
ventilation due to solar panels blocking veranda windows. Some even
commented that they were worried about accidently breaking the panel
by opening the windows. One top floor resident was concerned about a
fall of the hanging PV panel from the veranda on windy days (see Fig. 9).
A few tenants also mentioned fees required for removing their panels.
They mentioned the panels blocked the windows making the indoor
temperature increase and wanted to remove them. But the government
asked for the removal fees of about $45 (50,000 KRW) while the in­
stallations were free of charge. Some tenants also mentioned that their
panels broke after a short time and were left on their verandas due to the
removal or repair costs.
J. Lee and M.M. Shepley Journal of Building Engineering 28 (2020) 101016

3.7. Changes in perception and behavior after solar PV installation Table 6

Differences between several independent groups (gender, age, and occupation).
We examined changes in user awareness and behavior on energy use Test statisticsa Before PV installation After PV installation
pattern. Considering that energy production and use through photo­
Awareness Behavior Awareness Behavior
voltaic generators will ultimately have less impact on the environment,
it is important to explore changes in resident perceptions and behavior Genderb Chi Square 0.38 0.04 1.77 0.22
df 1 1 1 1
after the installation of solar PVs. We found that one indirect benefit of Asymp. Sig. 0.54 0.85 0.18 0.64
solar PV installation for the low-income families is an increased Ageb Chi Square 0.76 5.42 2.39 3.16
awareness about renewable sources and energy efficiency which likely df 3 3 3 3
leads to behavior change in energy use and energy consumption/cost Asymp. Sig. 0.86 0.14 0.49 0.37
Occupationb Chi Square 6.71 5.22 8.28 5.83
reduction. Users’ lack of understanding can cause a disproportionate
df 4 4 4 4
level of energy consumption, and financial benefits of the PV system are Asymp. Sig. 0.15 0.27 0.08 0.21
compromised [22]. a
Kruskal-Wallis test.
A paired-samples t-test was conducted to compare changes in b
Grouping Variable.
awareness and behavior of electricity use before and after PV installa­
tion (Table 5). The awareness in electricity use was increased: before
(M ¼ 2.10, SD ¼ 0.55) and after the PV installation (M ¼ 2.61, significant effect on bill savings because their initial expectations for
SD ¼ 0.67); the test statistic, t (102) ¼ 10.4, p ¼ 0.00. The mean differ­ reducing their electricity bills were much higher. Not having enough
ence (0.51) lied between 0.42 and 0.61. However, the behavior in information or experience on solar PV or little social interaction (peer)
electricity use did not show any significant change: before (M ¼ 2.01, effects in the diffusion of solar PV, it seemed that they had impractical
SD ¼ 0.79) and after PV installation (M ¼ 2.04, SD ¼ 0.83). This differ­ expectations for their solar PV. The power generation of the installed
ence of 0.03, 95% BCa CI [-0.01, 0.08] was not significant with t 260-W solar PV was simply not enough to bring large cost reduction
(102) ¼ 1.35, p ¼ 0.18. effects. Some residents even expected their electricity bills to be zero
In addition, we used the Kruskal-Wallis test to represent difference with solar PV before its installation. In addition, the users were con­
between groups (gender, age and occupation) in awareness and cerned and uncertain about the post-installation operation and main­
behavior before and after PV installation. For example, awareness in tenance of solar PVs. According to the survey and focus group
electricity use after PV installation was not significantly affected by the interviews, the residential solar PV users in the public rental apartments
gender, H (1) ¼ 0.38, p ¼ 0.54. To sum up, none of the specific com­ were not fully informed about how to effectively use their systems and
parisons between the groups indicates a significant difference in the how to properly operate and maintain the systems to maximize the
awareness and behavior of electricity use before and after the system benefits of solar PVs.
installment, all p-values > 0.05 (Table 6). In contrast to earlier findings For the successful implementation of the government sustainable
[39], for our study population, increased awareness was not enough to energy policies and energy welfare, user experience in this study shows
lead to any significant change in electricity use behavior after the system that improving the system performance and management is necessary
installment. Providing users with relevant information regarding tech­ along with customer education about solar PVs. Despite the importance
nological, environmental, and other potential benefits can be a more of a more widespread distribution of solar PV generators for the energy
effective way to increase user engagement. poor by private and public sectors, an effort is first needed to achieve the
real energy welfare by making installed systems work properly and
4. Discussion helping users operate them as planned. The installers and public officers
should have more interaction with the users and give ongoing advice
This study investigated the effectiveness of solar photovoltaic gen­ and information regarding the effective use of the system and more
erators in urban energy poor apartments supported by the Korean gov­ technical details on the system [39–41]. For communities with solar PV,
ernment’s sustainable energy policies. The study found that the Korean the government could invent education programs on solar cell operation
government adopted solar PV as a solution to ease the energy burden of and efficiency. These programs could be conducted as part of regular
low-income households in Seoul as part of their ongoing efforts to switch community charrettes. Solar related professionals and government of­
from fossil fuels to renewable energies. Our survey examined the PV ficials should join this type of community involvement and education.
users’ motivation, satisfaction, and ways for further improvement of Bringing people together helps build peer exchange and capacity to
their installed solar PVs. Electricity bill reduction and government advance sustainable goals and renewable energy uses as intended policy.
funding for the system were the most important motivations for In addition, practical knowledge and personal experience through
installing solar PVs in their houses. The tenants showed overall satis­ community blogging or web seminars would help end users to get and
faction with their PV systems; they reported higher satisfaction with the share information on issues about solar PV.
installation process of the system, participation in the government sus­ On the other hand, it is important to consider social and environ­
tainable energy policy, the design and quality of solar PV generators. mental benefits of the system by changing energy user awareness and
However, their satisfaction level dropped with regard to the system’s behavior in a mid-to long-term view rather than simply focusing on the
capacity and energy bill reductions. They felt the systems had no or little economic benefits of solar PVs. Many different factors are found to be
associated with user experience of solar PV systems such as ongoing

Table 5
Awareness and behavior changes in electricity use before/after solar PV installation.
Before PV installation After PV installation Bootstrapa t Sig. (2-tailed)

BCa 95% CI

M SD M SD Lower Upper

Awareness 2.10 0.55 2.61 0.67 0.42 0.61 10.4 0.00

Behavior 2.01 0.79 2.04 0.83 -0.01 0.08 1.35 0.18

Note: (a) Unless otherwise noted, bootstrap results are based on 1000 bootstrap samples
(b) N ¼ 103. M ¼ Mean. SD¼ Standard deviation. CI ¼ Confidence interval. p ¼ Sig. (2-tailed).

9
J. Lee and M.M. Shepley
support and user education for energy-relevant awareness and behavior
change. There is a difference between what people know and what they
do [42]. People know that energy use negatively affects the environ­
ment, but their energy use behavior is hard to change. For instance, the
studied tenants had higher awareness of energy use, but their energy
consumption behaviors did not show any significant change compared
with their increasing awareness. Changes in their energy use awareness
are important to maximize the effect to lower energy costs for
low-income families through solar PVs. If households consume elec­
tricity more aggressively in anticipation of energy cost cuts through
using solar PVs, it will be more difficult to achieve the goals of the
government’s renewable energy policies. To promote sustainable and
affordable energy for the low-income families, the integrated approach
is needed to relate renewable energy use to environmental education
and feedback. Energy-saving behavior can be induced through training
between users and suppliers.
Environmental psychologists also suggest that education and energy
consumption feedback are the most effective technique to promote
residential energy conservation [42]. They insist that more commitment
and participation be taken to make people enact energy-saving behav­
iors. This means that environmental information and education are
required to increase energy efficiency and conservation by changing
energy use behavior in the long-term perspective. Indeed, integrated
approaches relating sustainable energy behaviors and perceptions of
actual costs and benefits impact the acceptability of energy policies and
energy system changes [43]. For instance, LEED and other green
building rating systems explain that energy dashboards and metered and
sub-metered building utilities play important roles in achieving high
performance building outcomes by reducing users’ energy consumption.
Immediate feedback or interactivity on real time usage data can be
effective in encouraging people to pursue energy-efficient behaviors. For
instance, electricity consumption feedback is a useful tool that enables
the users to monitor and control their energy use through building-level
meters or sub-meters on their home.
The renewable energy and energy welfare policies are expected to
provide more coherent solutions to energy poor issues. However,
reducing the energy burden of the low-income households requires a
joint effort to ensure tangible benefits to such households to maximize
the effect of the energy policies. Considering the government renewable
energy policies and energy welfare in Seoul, where the number of
apartments accounts for about 60% of the total of building types, solar
PV systems installed on the veranda as a small and decentralized power
generator have added importance. Civic participation through solar PV
generators create greater energy independence and lower environ­
mental impacts when compared with centralized energy systems.
Ongoing civic engagement through campaigns and education in addi­
tion to the government policies and financial supports are recommended
for the successful implantation of the government sustainable energy
plan and energy welfare. Participant values on environmental sustain­
ability, perceived self-efficacy with energy-saving behaviors, and
knowledge about behaviors all relate to climate change.
5. Conclusions
This study explored the effectiveness of solar PV and post-installation
user experience in low-income public housing in densely populated
metropolitan Seoul. Focusing on this socioeconomically and geograph­
ically new context is meaningful as many existing studies are heavily
skewed towards a few locations such as Europe and Africa. Most of them
have also focused on rural community energy projects. This study is
significant as an example of a government initiated social energy system
approach to energy poverty alleviation through the implementation of
solar PVs on urban apartment verandas. By analyzing the residents’
awareness and behavior changes regarding solar PV use, the study
showed that increasing user engagement with the renewable energy
system is important for a successful implementation of the government
10
Journal of Building Engineering 28 (2020) 101016
renewable energy policy. Though our main focus was on its possibility as
a new energy intervention model, we managed to assess technical and
financial aspects.
However, our study had a few limitations. While it looked at the
efficacy of solar PV systems as a social energy solution for energy
poverty in a metropolitan area, it collected samples from one apartment
complex. We suggest future studies be conducted in expanded
geographic or social settings to include samples from different apart­
ment complexes allowing for more sophisticated multilevel analyses. As
this is a case study, additional research should be conducted at other
locations and over longer periods. Future researchers also need to study
maintenance and operation issues related to the elapsed time after the
solar PV installation. Detailed information on PV installation conditions
including the floor level and solar exposure should also be sought for
more precise assessments. In addition, the statistical methods used in
this study are limited and might be subject to multiple potential sources
of uncertainty. Further research is therefore necessary to expand the
empirical cases to identify some parameters whether or not the model is
sensitive to outputs. In addition, to alleviate energy burden for low-
income households, incorporating solar PV with building retrofits is
needed by integrating building envelope and mechanical systems. These
interventions might include weatherization of windows and doors,
insulation of walls, repair and insulation of roofing, optimizations of
thermal flows, building automation and control, and installation of
building elements to manage heat gains and losses.
We recognize that it is important for the government to increase the
number of installations in solar PVs for low-income households at the
initial policy stage. However, there is no published work on performance
assessment measuring the sustainability and productivity of installed PV
systems at the unit, apartment complex or local levels. Our study con­
tributes to the emerging picture of this government initiative by inte­
grating environmental and social sustainability. Findings of this study
suggest that the successful policy implementation requires precise in­
vestigations of its design, development, and optimization of the system
aiming at improved system performance and power generation in the
long term. Additionally, alleviating the energy burden of low-income
households requires a joint effort to ensure tangible benefits to such
households. Appropriate implementations of energy poverty alleviation
policy are not purely determined by technical or financial consider­
ations. Rather, they are attainable with a holistic understanding of the
local communities or users’ energy system awareness, behavior, and
needs which can lead to increased local participation followed by
enhanced energy literacy. Indeed, increasing user engagement with the
renewable energy system is important for a successful implementation
of the government renewable energy policy by providing them with
relevant information regarding technological, environmental, and other
potential benefits.
In this vein, future studies could include the feasibility analyses of
the system using simulated and measured data to address financial and
environmental problems related to the system. These comprehensive
approaches are important to provide a quantitative understanding of the
possibility of installing solar PVs to meet the government renewable
energy policy of reducing CO2 emissions and energy cost burden. At the
government level, the qualitative assessment is needed to improve PV
user satisfaction regarding maintenance of the system and education for
energy saving behaviors. By doing this, insights can be obtained about
useful government policy meeting customer needs and how suppliers
can optimize their products.
We finally suggest multi-disciplinary integrated approaches to
investigate the effect of solar PV generators and user experience by
incorporating smart technologies such as mobile devices, smart grids,
smart meters, sensors, in-home displays through network. These devices
enable PV users and providers to simultaneously exchange their energy
information (consumption and production). Big data from these smart
technologies is expected to deliver more detailed and empirical evidence
for the system’s further improvement.
J. Lee and M.M. Shepley
Declaration of competing interestCOI
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.jobe.2019.101016.
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