Abstract:
The development of renewable energy has become an important means to deal with climate change, ensure energy security and protect the earth’s environment. The study of its driving factors can help decision-makers to make a reasonable judgment, so as to formulate corresponding policy measures. Based on the data of 30 provinces, cities and autonomous regions in China from 2007 to 2017, this paper established a dynamic panel model to study the influencing factors of renewable energy development from the whole life cycle process of renewable energy production, transportation and consumption, and climate factors. The national and regional models were estimated by using differential GMM, System GMM and LSDVC methods. The results show that: consumption goals, economic and demographic factors, urbanization, infrastructure construction, education level, disposable income per capita, electricity output and climate factors all play a positive role in promoting the development of renewable energy in the national model, while the use of fossil energy, the proportion of thermal power, environmental protection expenditure and the amount of electricity transfer are negatively correlated with the development of renewable energy. In the regional model, the use of fossil energy and climate factors have different impacts on different regions. In provinces with high dependence on fossil energy, the use of fossil energy will promote the development of local renewable energy. Among climate factors, rainfall promotes the development of hydropower provinces, while sunshine duration hinders their development, and sunshine duration promotes the development of photovoltaic provinces.