Communicating the Values and Benefits of HomeSolar Prosumerism

Clearly and accurately communicating the economic, environmental, and social benefitsof solar PV prosumerism poses significant challenges. Previous research shows that governmentpolicies and public engagement campaigns can positively impact solar prosumerism; however, littleis known about the quality and accuracy of information exchanged between rooftop solar installersand potential prosumers. This study addresses part of this gap with a mixed methods approach. First,a multimodal discourse analysis of installation proposals from seven home solar installers in Madridshows accurate and reasonable financial benefits alongside incongruent social and environmental benefits. Second, the calculated efficiency of the seven proposed solar installations is compared with the efficiency of four different PVSC solar arrays using actual load and generation profiles. The results show that (i) the high variability of actual household demand on the minute-by- minutelevel significantly decreases self-consumption rate and profitability in comparison with the rates estimated using hourly or monthly, and (ii) the grouping of households into solar communities should significantly increase self-consumption and profitability. Therefore, using minute by minute time series in home solar estimations would reveal an added value and social benefit that is commonly overlooked. We conclude with recommendations for future research and multimodal communication campaigns that balance the benefits of individual prosumerism and community solar