How photovoltaic systems and distributed generation will disrupt the utility industry
An E Source multiclient market research study

A confluence of conditions is making photovoltaic (PV) systems attractive to your business customers like never before. Rapidly dropping prices, better vendor business models, and sustainability goals are driving rapid growth in PV adoption, and this is only the beginning. Reliability concerns are driving renewed interest in customer-sited generation and cogeneration.

Learn about the nuances in needs and decision-making processes of large business customers who are interested in solar and other distributed generation (DG) solutions. Then work with them to plan their long-term DG strategies.

Access study results

If you’re a subscriber, this link will take you to the study deliverables: How Photovoltaic Systems and Distributed Generation Will Disrupt the Utility Industry: A 2015 E Source Multi-Client Study. If you’re not currently a subscriber, you may contact us for information on membership to pertinent E Source services.

Study overview

Our market research study provides utilities with critical information to help them understand what motivates large and midsize business customers to acquire PV and other DG technologies. It also reveals which customers are most likely to reduce their demand for traditional utility-provided power.

E Source takes an informed approach by going straight to the end-use customers. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques, weÙre gathering data on customer attitudes, desires, barriers, and actions that are essential for you to understand in order to create your own strategy.

Project design and deliverables

This study surveyed over 800 businesses in the US and Canada and included key market segments such as retail, grocery, healthcare, government, manufacturing, hotels and motels, restaurants, offices, and education.

Key questions addressed in this study include:

  • What drives business customers to embrace PV and DG?
  • How do attitudes about utilities affect customers’ decisions to adopt PV and DG?
  • What investment criteria are most commonly used for decision-making?
  • How do corporate sustainability goals affect these decisions?
  • What barriers may keep customers from adopting PV and DG?
  • Who are the preferred providers of PV and DG, including utilities, local contractors, and national vendors?
  • To what extent will on-site electric storage affect these decisions?
  • Can utility pricing models affect adoption?
  • How are corporate decisions made regarding PV and DG adoption?
  • Which customer segments are most likely to adopt PV and why?

Study deliverables include:

  • An interim intelligence report based on in-depth interviews
  • A strategic outcome report, highlighting how the findings paint a picture for the future and illustrating how utilities can take advantage of, or defend, the PV and DG space
  • A detailed results presentation report with key data in meaningful formats that you can use at your utility to help make strategic decisions
  • On-demand access to the recording of the web conference where we presented our findings
  • Full national datasets
0 Commercial and industrial (C&I) business DER strategy Distributed energy generation Distributed energy resources (DERs) Solar technology Voice of the customer (VOC)