An Evaluation of the Solar Award in Taiwan

Abstract

The Solar Award in Taiwan is an annual contest that encourages professionals and students to submit innovative design projects that utilize solar photovoltaic material. Entries range from architectural and construction projects to the design of products such as toys and racing cars. In this study, we collected the direct feedback from the contestants as part of a program evaluation project. A questionnaire was designed to capture the perceived benefits of the contestants' experience in the Solar Award. Further, Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was used to estimate the economic value of those benefits. The web-based survey was completed by 135 previous contestants. Out analysis indicated that they expressed a mean willingness to pay of NTD 2511 (USD 85) as a registration fee. An aggregated value of NTD 3.3 million (US110, 000) was estimated to represent the use value of this event. We concluded that the Solar Award brought significant knowledge improvement and commercial opportunities to the contestants as well as positive effects on their perception of renewable energy. In addition, we found that there was an increase in the number of contestants that became practical users of solar PV following the contest. We also noticed that different occupational groups perceived and valued the contest experiences differently.