Improving solar power usage with electric vehicles: Analyzing a public-private partnership cooperation scheme based on evolutionary game theory

Abstract The research on renewable energy utilization has attracted much attention in recent years with the increasing awareness of sustainable development and environmental protection from the public. To promote the usage of solar power, a public-private partnership program is suggested which encourages investment companies to cooperate with residents by setting up rooftop solar panels and receiving payment from electric vehicle users. In order to analyze the willingness of each stakeholder participating in such a program, an evolutionary game model is established considering three populations. The evolutionary stable strategies of the game are calculated and stability conditions are analyzed. Eight scenarios of equilibriums and corresponding stable conditions are obtained. The situation that all players are willing to cooperate exists in reality. The impact of five key parameters which affect the cooperation behaviors is discussed in details. Results demonstrate that by properly controlling the subsidy policy and pricing strategy, the cooperation mode can be changed from any original status into the desired target. This research provides government agency useful information for design appropriate policies/business modes so as to promote renewable energy utilization.