The rapid development of renewable energy sources observed in recent years however has a number of limitations for different regions limited by non-price factors such as corruption and opacity of supporting institutions, lack the necessary technology to integrate renewable into the grid, lobbying and support of the interests of the owners of traditional energy sources and others. The article attempts to analyse the factors that affect the consumption of renewable energy sources in three groups of countries, pointing to the greater importance of such indicators as the share of R and d in GDP, the availability of traditional energy resources, oil prices, transparency of institutions for some countries and their lesser importance for others.