Research Database

Over the past few decades, universal electricity access has grown together with an increasing awareness of the need to combat global warming. Nevertheless, electricity access remains a critical driver of economic growth and poverty reduction for developing countries. This study characterizes the demand for solar energy and its impact on electricity consumption in Myanmar. We estimate discrete choice models for solar device ownership (or usage) using the World Bank multi-tier framework (MTF) global survey for Myanmar. We estimate a binary choice model for solar device usage, and find that individuals who are married and living in their own houses in rural areas without access to the national grid are more likely to become solar device owners. Using a multinomial logit model estimation, we find heterogeneous characteristics of the demand for solar device ownership by payment method. Finally, we estimate an electricity consumption function with solar device ownership as an endogenous selection using Heckman’s selection model estimation. The estimation result indicates that there is no substantial rebound effect due to solar device ownership.