The increasing global demand for energy security and sustainable development necessitated the need for a paradigm shift from fossil fuel energy sources to renewable energy sources in Africa. There is a dearth of information on the current pattern of renewable energy consumption as well as its key drivers in Africa. This study was therefore designed to investigate the determinants of renewable energy consumption in Africa, with a view to understanding the current pattern and its potential determinants. The study employed the panel data analysis involving five most populous and biggest economy in each of the five regions of Africa namely; Nigeria (West), Egypt (North), Ethiopia (East), DR Congo (Central) and South Africa (Southern) and using annual data from 1990 to 2015. Empirical analysis involved the estimation of both fixed effects and random effects models, while the Hausman test was employed for selecting the appropriate panel model and was found to be significant at p <= 0.05. Hausman test statistic value of 52.74 which was used to decide between fixed effects model and random effects model was found to be significant at 5%. The F-Statistic test value of 94.15 from the estimated fixed effect model was significant at 5%. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.