Exploring the Relationship between Renewable Energy Sources and Economic Growth. The Case of SAARC Countries

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between renewable energy sources and economic growth of the South Asian Association for regional cooperation (SAARC) countries. This study uses three main renewable energy sources, namely geothermal, hydro, and wind.This study collects data set from SAARC countries from 1995 to 2018 and applies a fixed effect test and panel vector error correction model (PVECM) for data analysis. The overall results show that all three renewable energy sources have a positive significant impact on economic development among SAARC countries' economies. Moreover, hydropower renewable energy has more effects and influences on economic growth as compared to the other two individual sources of renewable energy.

Automated summary

The study found that geothermal, hydro, and wind energy sources have significant positive impacts on the economic growth of SAARC countries, with hydropower having the most significant influence on economic growth compared to the other two sources.