What is really behind the adoption of new renewable electricity generating technologies?

• This study focuses on the renewable technologies which have not reached grid parity.
• I link energy security and climate change to the share of renewable electricity.
• Income is also found to influence the share of renewable electricity.
• Rich countries importing coal to generate electricity have high shares of renewable.

This study investigates the partial correlations between the share of new renewable electricity in a country and income, energy security and climate change mitigation. For the purpose of this paper, new renewables refer to the electricity generating technologies that have not yet reached grid-parity (e.g. wind, solar). The author proposes a measure of energy security depending on the role of inputs (coal and natural gas) in electricity generation as well as a measure of a country's potential to mitigate climate change based on the quantity of fossil-based electricity generated per capita. Findings from 2007, 2008 and 2009 data on 107 middle and high-income economies show that rich countries relying on coal imports to generate their power, are also those with the highest shares of electric power from new renewables.