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The role of media, policy and regional heterogeneity in renewable energy project crowdfunding

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  • Guillochon, Justine

Abstract

Renewable energy public tenders require French project developers to rely on local crowdfunding to finance their projects in exchange for a mark-up on the energy selling price. In this paper, I study the effects of media-coverage and geographical restrictions on the number of participants of successful crowdfunding campaigns and their duration. I tackle this question using an internet scrapped dataset on the financing characteristics of successful renewable energy campaigns from a leading French crowdfunding platform, Lendopolis, over the 2017–2021 period. First, I find that the higher the media coverage, the larger the number of investors. I uncover that using a combination of social and traditional media attracts more investors than using a single outlet. Second, I show that an unintended policy consequence is that geographically restricted campaigns are longer and involve fewer investors. Third, I find evidence that the impact of geographical restrictions varies across regions. Regional heterogeneity in terms of income, internet connectivity, and population density affects the number of investors and the duration of the geographically restricted campaigns.

Suggested Citation

  • Guillochon, Justine, 2022. "The role of media, policy and regional heterogeneity in renewable energy project crowdfunding," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:115:y:2022:i:c:s0140988322004789
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2022.106349
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crowdfunding; Renewable energy; Media; Green finance; France;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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