Abstract Recently, the Malaysian government has targeted to achieve the 20% renewable-energy goal by 2025. Despite the Malaysian government’s having taken initiatives in promoting the use of renewable energy for more than a decade, to date, more than three-quarters of the electricity supply in Peninsular Malaysia is generated from the burning of fossil fuels. Apparently, the development of renewable energy is still slow and in its infancy. The current study intends to identify the predictors (environmentalism, cost, knowledge and personal innovativeness) that influence the residential intention to adopt solar photovoltaic (PV) in Klang Valley. This study adopts the technology acceptance model as the theoretical framework to analyse the mediation effect on perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness between the determinants and the intention to adopt solar PV. Self-administered questionnaires are used to collect data from non-solar PV users who stay in Klang Valley. Structural equation modelling analysis was carried out on the 200 samples from data collection. The findings demonstrated that environmentalism is having a significant impact on the intention to adopt solar PV, followed by knowledge. The perceived usefulness mediates the relationship between the predictors and the intention to use solar PV, although no mediation effect was found for the perceived ease of use. Lastly, several implications are highlighted to the policymakers and solar-market practitioners to improve the existing policies and promote solar PV adoptions among residents.