Dynamics of acceptance and domestication of residential solar photovoltaics: insights from Lisbon households

Small-scale renewable energy technologies for domestic use can play an important role in meeting policy targets for energy security and decentralised production. Based on 51 interviews conducted with households in Greater Lisbon, this article draws on technology domestication theory to examine how residential photovoltaic solar panels are integrated and adapted to the dynamics of each household. This process involves challenges such as the reconfiguration of routines and the successive incorporation of various pieces of equipment already present in everyday life. The findings show that domestication does not unfold as the linear sequence the classic framework implies. Stages recur, overlap, and are revisited over time, as illustrated by two household cases. The article contributes to the domestication literature both empirically, by extending its evidence base to a Southern European context, and theoretically, by further developing, in dialogue with social practice theories, a more recursive and socially uneven reading of domestication.