Paper #4

Analysing Public Perception of Solar Energy: An Explainable AI Sentiment Analysis Approach

Japhne Anbarasan and Murugeswari Rathinam

Abstract: Addressing the contemporary climate crisis is the need of the hour to protect both people and the planet. As countries embark on green energy revolution, focussing on achieving the United Nations (UN) 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development, guaranteeing universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services stands out as an important goal. As part of the implementation of this goal, solar panel installation scheme has been undertaken by the government of India to encourage widespread adoption of green energy. This research work proposes an effective method to assess the acceptance of this scheme among users and the broader audience. User comments/ feedback from various social networking sites are analysed in this research work using Machine Learning techniques along with Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) to make the machine learning models’ predictions more transparent. OpenAI Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) language model is also used to automatically identify key implementation challenges of the scheme by creating a concise summary of the feedback shared by the users. This insight, based on the pain points of the users, can further help in providing recommendations and suggestions to appropriate stakeholders to improve the success rate of this scheme. Five machine learning models- Logistic Regression, Random Forest, Decision Tree, Extreme Gradient Boosting, and Stochastic Gradient Descent- were compared to choose the right technique for sentiment analysis. Among them, Logistic Regression and Stochastic Gradient Descent achieved an accuracy of 93% in predicting the sentiment. Our analysis showed around 63% of user feedback was positive indicating the public acceptance of green energy projects in India despite higher initial investments. The methodology and framework developed during this research work have immense reusability across similar government schemes (where transparency in sentiment analysis and sensitivity of public data are critical) in assessing their effectiveness and identifying areas where improvements are required.

Keywords: Explainable Artificial Intelligence; Opinion Mining; Panel Scheme; PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana; Rooftop Solar Sentiment Analysis; Sustainable Development Goals.