Recently, there has been an uptake of integrating solar thermal into district heating (DH) systems. It has been recognized as one of the paths towards a more sustainable future. However, there are some countries where the adoption is very slow, regardless of its market readiness. Adoption and diffusion literature points to the need to investigate slow adoption examples to contribute to the already existing knowledge. Consequently, this thesis investigates influencing factors, barriers, and drivers for the slow adoption of solar thermal into DH systems. A case study was carried out to identify influencing factors for the slow adoption of solar thermal within DH systems. The case was chosen based on purposive and extreme sampling as it referred to the adoption of the first large-scale solar thermal into DH systems in France. Stratified purposive sampling, in combination with snowball sampling, was used to acquire eleven interviews. Thematic analysis was utilized to analyse the findings. Results identified four themes, Technology, Environmental Regulations, Management of DH systems, and Financials, where each theme contained several subthemes. Barriers and drivers were developed from the subthemes. Among the most prominent barriers were the combination of lack of experience and a rigid legal framework, resulting in the barrier of ex-post integration, which implies considering the whole DH system when integrating new technologies. Another identified prominent barrier was cheap fuels which include biomass, as well. Environmental policies were found to both help and hamper the adoption. A driver, called a champion, mainly pushed the adoption of solar thermal within the studied case. In conclusion, several barriers and drivers can influence the adoption of solar thermal into DH systems, and taking them into account should facilitate its adoption. Next, investigating a slow adoption case proved to be a valuable venue for acquiring new knowledge. Lastly, based on the empirical results of the studied case, solar thermal could not be labelled as an environmental innovation, which has alarming implications for achieving sustainable development goals in the future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-445625 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Pyndzyn, Alex |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Industriell teknik, Absolicon Solar Collector |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | SAMINT-MILI ; 21009 |
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