The low carbon energy transition has attracted worldwide attention to mitigate climate change.Renew-ableenergy(RE)is the key to this transition,with significant developments to date,especially in China.This study systematically reviews the literature on RE development to identify a general context from many studies.The goal is to clarify key questions related to RE development from the current academic community.We first identify the forces driving RE development.There-after,we analyze methods for modeling RE developments considering the systematic and multiple complexity characteristics of RE.The study concludes with insights into the target selection and RE development roadmap in China.