Analysis of Spatial and Temporal Differences in the Efficiency of Rural Renewable Energy and Influencing Factors

This paper takes the rural areas of 27 provinces in China from 2009 to 2020 as the research object. Based on the Super-SBM model and the GML index, the efficiency of rural renewable energy is calculated and analyzed from both static and dynamic perspectives. Subsequently, the spatial differences among regions and the sources of these differences are analyzed using the Dagum Gini coefficient method. Finally, the panel Tobit model is used for the analysis of influencing factors. The research results show: (1) Within the study range, the efficiency of renewable energy shows significant spatio-temporal heterogeneity; the GML index presents a U-shaped characteristic, with slight declines in 2015 and 2016, and stable growth in other periods. (2) Regional differences are the main source of overall differences, but they show a gradually decreasing trend, indicating that the imbalance in the development of renewable energy in various regions in China has improved. (3) Economic level, education level, and power infrastructure have significant positive effects on the efficiency of renewable energy, while urbanization level is significantly negatively correlated with the efficiency of rural renewable energy. The impact is complex, and the effect of green finance is not significant.