Spatial Correlation Network of Energy Consumption and Its Influencing Factors in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration

Accurately understanding the correlation characteristics of energy consumption between regions is an important basis for scientifically formulating energy policies and an important entry point for realizing carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals. Based on the energy consumption data of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRDUA) from 2004 to 2017, the social network analysis method is applied to investigate the spatial correlation characteristics of the energy consumption of 26 cities and its influencing factors in the YRDUA. The energy consumption presents an obvious spatial correlation network structure. The network density fluctuates by approximately 0.3, and the network structure is relatively stable. Hangzhou, Suzhou and other cities are at the center of the network, playing the role of intermediaries. In the network, 10 cities, such as Shanghai and Shaoxing, have the characteristics of bidirectional spillover effects and act as “guides”, while Nanjing, Yangzhou and Chuzhou have the characteristics of brokers and act as “bridges”. The regional differences in geographical adjacency, FDI, industrial agglomeration and environmental regulation intensity are positively correlated with the network, and the impact coefficients are 0.486, 0.093, 0.072 and 0.068, respectively. Infrastructure differences are negatively correlated with the network, with an impact coefficient of −0.087