## 4 Policy Reviews
### RE Policy Support  
Most support policies worldwide promote power generation through institutional creation and strategic planning. These policies have been developed to encourage the introduction of RE technologies into the electricity sector [24]. Policy support (PS) has two categories, which include institutional creation (such as the implementation of an energy agency) and strategic planning. Some of these policies are reported in Table 3 for the three countries under study. Some of the above-mentioned policies are explained as follows:  
* **China**: 1. The 13 th 5-year plan for 2016-2020 including geothermal, solar, wind, hydro, and ocean power provided a strategy for sustainable energy and resource management. The activities focused on three areas, including green actions, the implementation of energy-saving projects, and improved safeguarding measures [30]. 2. The solar industry 12 th 5-year plan aimed to increase solar production and reduce the cost of electricity generation from solar installations to make them more competitive with conventional power production [29]. 3. In 2012, the government planned the construction of six onshore, two offshore, and coastal wind power plants (under the 12 th 5-year plan) for wind technology development. The target was to add 10 MW of offshore wind prototypes by 2015 [25]. * **Brazil**: 1. The Ministry of Mines and Energy approved the 2010-2019 Plan for Energy Expansion, which adopted a reduction in fossil fuel power plant construction and expected major expansions in the hydro and wind grid-connected power sectors. The installed capacity targets for RES by 2019 were 116.7 GW hydro, 6 GW wind, and 8.5 GW biomass power [31]. 2. The Light for All program (2003) improved rural electrification through network expansion, distributed RE generating systems, and reduced the GHG [31]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Country** & **Policy Support (PS)** & **Institutional Creation** & **Strategic Planning** \\ \hline \multirow{6}{*}{China} & China 13 th 5-year plan for 2016–2020 including & & \\  & geothermal, solar, wind, hydro, & & x \\  & and ocean power & & \\ \cline{2-3}  & Renewable energy law & x & \\ \cline{2-3}  & Guidance to promote advanced PV & & x \\  & technology application & & \\ \cline{2-3}  & Wind power technology development (12 th & & x \\  & 5-year special plan) & x & x \\ \cline{2-3}  & Solar industry 12 th 5-year development plan & & x \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Brazil} & 2010–2019 plan for energy expansion & & x \\ \cline{2-3}  & Light for all program & & x \\ \hline \multirow{6}{*}{USA} & Executive order 13514: expanding energy and & & \\  & environmental requirements & x & \\ \cline{2-3}  & Energy policy act of 2005 & & x \\ \cline{2-3}  & National biodiesel education program & & x \\ \cline{2-3}  & State climate and energy partnership program & & x \\ \cline{2-3}  & Twenty in ten program (2007) to cut US & & \\ \cline{2-3}  & gasoline consumption by 20\% in 10 years & & x \\ \cline{2-3}  & Solar America & & x \\ \cline{2-3}  & Biomass research and development act & & x \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Examples of the PS policies adopted in China, Brazil, and the USA. * **USA**: 1. Executive Order 13,514 expands the energy reduction and environmental requirements by making GHG management a priority for the federal government [32]. 2. The Solar America Initiative was a Department of Energy effort to make solar PV energy a cost-competitive with conventional form of electricity by 2015 [33]. 3. The State Climate and Energy Partnership Program was designed to help states review and adopt policies that integrate clean energy into a low-cost and reliable system [34]. 4. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 provided tax incentives and loan guarantees for various types of energy production to mitigate climate change [35]. 5.