The prime objective of the study is to examine the institutional affiliation in assessing the nexus between renewable energy and growth by employing a multi-quantitative approach. The dataset includes the Sub-Saharan African countries encapsulating 1990–2020. At first, the cross-sectional dependence (CSD) and slope's homogeneity (SH) tests were employed. Afterward, CIPS and CADF were employed to obtain the dataset's stationarity elements. The Westerlund bootstrap cointegration test consistently employed the long-term institutional affiliations to confirm the cointegration features. Meanwhile, for examining the short- and long-term performance impacts between the variables, we utilized the CS-ARDL approach. Dynamic heterogeneity causation is involved in identifying the flow of causation. Our results reveal positive renewable energy-growth nexus. Conversely, we report a positive impact on institutional affiliation, while a negative moderating impact on the population is reported. Further, institutional quality negatively influences the renewable-energy growth relationship. We proposed that for attaining long-term growth, Sub-Saharan Africa must expand the investment in renewable energy projects, create well-resourced institutions, and determine contingency plans for renewable energy development. Similarly, other emerging states can also monitor the institutional affiliation affect to observe the renewable energy-growth nexus.