What is the impact of prosumers supporting schemes and of the electricity price structure on the penetration of residential distributed renewable energy in Europe?

Climate change and the ever-growing increase in energy demand have led modern societies to look for alternative ways of supplying energy, including distributed renewable energy (DRE). Owners of small-scale DRE, mostly photovoltaic installations, the so-called prosumers, are expected to play a major role in the transition to low-carbon societies. However, it is still difficult for regulators to assess the impact of support mechanisms, especially feed-in tariffs and net metering, at a residential level. Understanding how these individuals respond to price signals is thus of uttermost importance. Through a regression model, this thesis quantifies the effectiveness of these support schemes and evaluates the impact of the electricity price components on the penetration rate of prosumers in Europe.