Assessing the advancement of new renewable energy sources in Latin American and Caribbean countries

Abstract

The research focuses on the evolution of non-hydroelectrical renewable installed capacity from 2001 to 2017 in nineteen countries from the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region. The deployment of new renewables has several characteristics that point to nonlinear relationships with its drivers. In accordance, the quantile regressions econometric technique of Canay was used. The option to use this econometric technique stem from Canay model estimation can capture the variation between different countries (cross-section). The Canay model estimation results support that renewable energy finance flows, economic globalisation index, and carbon dioxide emissions positively affect non-hydroelectrical renewable installed capacity. The positive impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on non-hydroelectrical renewable installed capacity could be related to increased environmental, political, and social pressure regarding the increase of environmental degradation caused by the growth in emissions that encouraged the new investments in renewable energy technologies. It also could be related to the consumption of new renewable energy sources that mitigate CO2 emissions in the LAC countries.