Determinants of Clean Energy Access in Sub-Saharan Africa

Access to clean energy remains a critical challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where over 80% of households rely on solid biomass, exacerbating health risks and environmental degradation. Despite global commitments under SDG 7 and rising renewable energy shares, household-level adoption of clean energy technologies remains limited. This study examines the determinants of clean energy access across 12 SSA countries from 2000 to 2023 using panel data and advanced econometric techniques, with fixed effects (FE) as the primary specification, complemented by random effects (RE), generalised estimating equations (GEE), and mixed-effects Poisson models for robustness. The results show that institutional quality has the strongest positive effect on clean energy access (β = 18.169, p < 0.001), followed by financial inclusion (β = 0.363, p < 0.001) and energy infrastructure (β = 0.162, p < 0.05). At the same time, digital connectivity also contributes positively (β = 0.058, p < 0.05).  Interaction analysis further shows that strong governance significantly amplifies the impact of financial inclusion on clean energy adoption.  These findings highlight the importance of integrated development strategies that combine institutional reform, inclusive finance, and digital innovation to accelerate energy transitions. Policy implications include revising renewable energy metrics to distinguish modern energy sources from traditional biomass and prioritising governance-finance synergies to accelerate equitable energy transitions in SSA.