The role of Renewable Energy Sources in Energy Imports: Evidence from BRIC Countries

Abstract

There is less debate on the connection among energy import and renewable and conventional energy sources in past studies. In direction to accommodate the excess demand of energy (electricity) the means beside conventional power generation sources, the natural energy sources are pivotal need of the world. On the other hand, developed and developing economies are under the huge burden of energy debt which is another dilemma. The study uses time period from 1990-2018 by using secondary data. To study the influence of renewable and non-renewable energy sources on energy import, the present study employs Panel Fisher Cointegration and Panel VECM technique. The empirical results support that electricity generation by oil source, renewable energy sources, and nuclear source decreases energy import and have significant casual effect in case of BRIC nations. Furthermore, the result reveals that electricity generation from hydro, coal and natural gas due to huge investment and initial energy utilization for the installation of nuclear plants, is not an efficient way. Therefore, BRIC nations need to explore and invest in renewable energy sources as well as nuclear and oil sources in order to fill excess energy gap along with lowering energy imports.