2020 IB Extended Essays

The solar rebate (subsidy) according to primary research that was undertaken has had an affect on

sales. When primary data was conducted on people who had solar panels, the majority of the

respondents said that they heard about the subsidy and then started researching solar. This is shown

in figure 1.4 below whereby 73% of the respondents said that they were influenced by the solar

panel subsidy into buying solar panels. This is more proof that the subsidy has impacted sales of

solar panels.

Did the solar panel subsidy influence you into buying them?

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10

8

6

4

2

0

Yes

No

Figure 1.4 Did the solar panel subsidy influence you into buying them? The research conducted in figure 1.4 was done using the sampling technique of convenience

sampling, whereby the closest people to me with solar panels installed after 2009 were asked

questions. While there are flaws with this technique, such as biased results, and results not

representative of the whole population, it does at least mean that the subsidy has had an impact. If

figure 1.4 was to be extrapolated, using the data from figure 1.3, then roughly 1,396,000 out of the

1,912,000 solar panels installed since 2010 up until 2018 were influenced by the subsidy.

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