Greening the Red: How China Deploys Solar Energy to Beat Poverty

Sammanfattning

This thesis investigates the implementation of China’s Solar Energy for Poverty Alleviation Programme (SEPAP), a state-led initiative introduced in 2014 to address rural poverty while supporting the expansion of the domestic photovoltaic (PV) industry. Rather than evaluating outcomes, the study explores how SEPAP was translated from central policy into local practice across two counties in Jiangsu and Shandong provinces. Drawing on a process tracing methodology and a neo-institutionalist theoretical lens, and supported by thematic analysis of field data, it examines the institutional dynamics, actor strategies, and governance mechanisms that shaped the program’s delivery on the ground. The research is based on qualitative data, including the analysis of 11 key policy documents and 12 semi-structured interviews with local government officials, private sector representatives, and rural citizens. The findings reveal that SEPAP was implemented as a centrally coordinated campaign rooted in ideological narratives such as ‘targeted poverty alleviation’ and ‘ecological civilization’, and enforced through top-down mechanisms including planning quotas, subsidy models, and ideological alignment. While Jiangsu demonstrated high institutional capacity and coherence, Shandong exposed issues such as symbolic compliance, limited technical oversight, and decoupling between formal procedures and real-world outcomes. The study contributes to debates on governance and policy implementation in authoritarian contexts, showing that China’s ‘hard steering’ model enables rapid mobilization but can hinder responsiveness and accountability at the grassroots level. It argues for the importance of adaptive implementation mechanisms, inclusive governance, and robust institutional feedback systems to ensure that development initiatives achieve both technical and social objectives in practice.