Renewable energy penetration levels are not uniform across countries.Many authors have researched on the elements favoring renewable energy penetration, often concluding that implementing favorable energy policies is the safest way to achieve high shares of renewable energy in the electricity sector.Yet, few authors have considered the research area of establishing why certain countries are implementing favorable energy policies, whereas others do not.The authors study precisely researches on these differences using a rigorous econometrical approach.A feasible generalized least square approach allowing for panel specific heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation coefficients is applied on over hundred twenty panels.The study does not only complete the existing literature by introducing new variables, but also covers most of the worlds countries.It is found that a number of factors related to the real economy of a country influence the propensity of a country to implement favorable conditions for renewable energy development, and eventually achieve high share of renewable energy.These factors can basically be grouped under three drivers, which are;wealth, climate change and energy security.By dividing the panels in five distinctive groups (OECD countries, EU and EFTA countries, OPEC countries, low income economies and middle income economies), the author shows how the impact of the three drivers vary across groups.Wealth and energy security are found to be the predominant drivers, while climate change is the most effective, but less frequently observed,driver.