Does renewable energy policy increase energy intensity? Evidence from the ECOWAS region
International Journal of Energy Sector Management
ISSN: 1750-6220
Article publication date: 13 September 2021
Issue publication date: 11 May 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess how the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) renewable energy policy (EREP) affects energy intensity using the difference-in-difference (DID) and the propensity score matching methods (PSM). Based on the current debates on renewable energy policies (REP) and due to the fact that energy efficiency has been a challenge for ECOWAS member states. The authors set up a framework to assess the EREP effect on energy intensity.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the DID and PSM approaches the paper assesses the effect of EREP on energy intensity. The following three different paths are considered: Path 1 tests the EREP effect on electricity access. Path 2 tests the use of renewable energy sources as a factor to enhance the energy intensity. Path 3 tests whether or not use of renewable energy deployment has the potential to raise the total percentage of primary energy supply. The principle is to investigate if and to what extend the EREP increases the energy intensity.
Findings
The results indicate that EREP has a significantly positive effect on increasing the percentage of energy intensity in ECOWAS member states that has implemented the policy, resulting for a large percentage of the population to electricity access in treated groups. Empirical estimation results largely corroborate the three paths’ hypotheses. The result indicated that the EREP has increased the percentage of electricity access throughout the region.
Originality/value
The paper explores a more appropriate framework to examine the effect of EREP and enriches the literature on the impact of REP by combining a policy evaluation approach (PSM-DID) method. This paper is the first to the knowledge to estimate the EREP effect by using a non-parametric approach. The majority of previous studies have focused on using case studies, exploratory analysis approaches and econometric methods.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Declaration of interest: The author declares that no conflict of interest could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported. They declare also that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the research reported.
Citation
Moustapha, M.A.M., Yu, Q. and Danqauh, B.A. (2022), "Does renewable energy policy increase energy intensity? Evidence from the ECOWAS region", International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 728-746. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJESM-12-2020-0023
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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