Renewable Energy Consumption and Economic Growth in Southern African Development Community Region

This study empirically analyzed the effects of renewable energy consumption on economic growth in Southern African Development Community using longitudinal data for a panel of 16 countries during the sample period 2000-2019. The methodological approach used applied the Breusch-Pagan Lagrangian multiplier test and Hausman test procedures. Based on estimates of the fixed effects model, empirical results show that an increase in renewable energy consumption had a statistically significant and positive effect on economic growth in the region. The estimated R-squared shows that approximately 3.4 percent total variation in economic growth was explained by renewable energy consumption and total natural resource rents. The computed F-statistic (= 7.88; p < 0.01) confirms significance of the model; while the interclass correlation value shows that approximately 52.6 percent of the variance was due to differences across panels. Keywords: renewable, energy, consumption, economic growth, SADC DOI: 10.7176/JESD/13-24-05 Publication date: December 31st 202