Iran has inordinate natural capacity to benefit from solar energy all year. Interim plans by the Iranian government have been implemented to develop energy transition in rural areas, however, the outcomes have not been promising so far. This research seeks to address the question of what factors influence villagers’ tendency towards solar panel acceptance for domestic usage. To answer the question, a survey was conducted among residents who had not installed the new technology in the survey time. A model based on the modified framework of the Technology Acceptance Model for energy transition was developed and data was collected from the northern part of Iran—Mazandaran province. The data revealed that through the mediating role of attitude, the strongest effect on adoption intention relates to perceived usefulness. The paper discusses why solar energy technology is not welcomed in the studied community. The findings contribute to increase our knowledge about underlying factors on the development of public adoption of renewable energies in a developing country
Funding agency:
Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) 7023254, 2019