Evaluation of property tax bonus to promote solar thermal systems in Andalusia (Spain)

This paper evaluates the effects of a property tax bonus to promote the installation of solar-thermal energy systems in buildings in Andalusia (southern Spain). The propensity score matching methodology is used. The treatment group consists of municipalities of Andalusia that established property tax bonuses in their municipalities in 2010. The control group consists of municipalities that did not. The response variable measures the number of new square meters of solar thermal systems installed in 2010. The analysis leads to the conclusion that municipalities that established a property tax bonus had installed, on average, 102.245 to 122.389 square meters more. These results indicate that the percentage increase in squares meters installed in municipalities which adopted the tax bonus promotion ranged from 70.74% to 98.38%. These percentages were lower for rural municipalities (49.00% to 77.06%).