Can African countries efficiently build their economies on renewable energy?

The translog production model is estimated to provide insights on the effectiveness of renewable energy for Africa. The analysis shows that capital, labor, renewable energy and nonrenewable energy drive output in African countries; with renewable energy being a higher driver of growth than the conventional fossil fuels over the sample period. This finding is reflective of the fact that renewable sources like wind, hydro and solar account for a greater share of power generation in most African countries. Output elasticities computed for both energy types reaffirm the results and suggest that Eastern and Central African countries are more renewable energy dependent than the other three regions. In addition, technological progress is driven mainly by the efficiency with which various factors and energy inputs are used. While Africa has great potential of facing out conventional fossil energy, the discussion provided in this study suggests that such transition is limited in practice due to issues of scale, economics and sitting problems.