Determinants of renewable energy consumption in Madagascar: Evidence from feature selection algorithms

Abstract: The aim of this note is to identify the factors influencing renewable energy consumption in Madagascar. We tested 12 features covering macroeconomic, financial, social, and environmental aspects, including economic growth, domestic investment, foreign direct investment, financial development, industrial development, inflation, income distribution, trade openness, exchange rate, tourism development, environmental quality, and urbanization. To assess their significance, we assumed a linear relationship between renewable energy consumption and these features over the 1990-2021 period. Next, we applied different machine learning feature selection algorithms classified as filter-based (relative importance for linear regression, correlation method), embedded (LASSO), and wrapper-based (best subset regression, stepwise regression, recursive feature elimination, iterative predictor weighting partial least squares, Boruta, simulated annealing, and genetic algorithms) methods. Our analysis revealed that the five most influential drivers stem from macroeconomic aspects. We found that domestic investment, foreign direct investment, and inflation positively contribute to the adoption of renewable energy sources. On the other hand, industrial development and trade openness negatively affect renewable energy consumption in Madagascar.