IIASA RepositoryImpacts of human factors on willingness to useN.KomendantovaauthorM.YazdanpanahauthorCurrently the Middle East and North African (MENA) region is going through energy transition. Ambitious plans exist at international, regional and national governance levels to deploy renewable energy sources (RES), such as concentrated solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) solar power to cover local growing energy needs, to diversify energy supply and to benefit from electricity trade. Even though the majority of MENA countries have favorable geographic conditions, namely, the level of solar irradiance, for deployment of solar projects, they are very diverse in terms of availability of fossil fuels, which might hinder deployment of RES projects. For instance, the countries like Morocco are covering almost 95% of their energy needs by imports at the same time the countries like Iran, Egypt or Algeria are not only benefiting from availability of fossil fuels for local consumption but are also exporting energy from fossil fuels on the global markets. The question of this paper is how availability of fossil fuels for domestic consumption might impact the willingness to use and public acceptance of RES, in general, and of solar projects, in particular, among lay people. The methodological basis of this paper is formed by the case study method of two countries and by different methods of elicitation of stakeholders’ opinions and views to understand public acceptance and willingness to use renewable energy. By comparing Iran and Morocco we aim to understand to which extent availability of non-renewable energy sources in Iran influence perceptions of its inhabitants regarding RES energy.2016Iranian Association for Energy EconomicsArticle

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