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.