To explain and promote the adoption of new technologies, researchers have debated the relative importance of technology push and demand pull factors (e.g., Schmookler, 1966; Mowery and Rosenberg, 1979; Peters et al, 2012). Here we examine a crucial problem of contemporary innovation policy — promoting the adoption of renewable energy to reduce
anthropogenic global warming — that challenges prior models for large scale innovation adoption. From the recommendations of Mowery, Nelson and Martin (2010), we develop a typology of technology push and demand pull policy design principles for renewable energy
adoption. We use these principles to analyze a sample of 79 solar energy policies from 1974 to 2011 in the U.S., Germany and China. To go beyond the push/pull dichotomy, we also map these policies to the (solar) value chain. From this, we suggest additions to the model of technology push and demand pull — distinguishing between direct and indirect push and pull — to explain the success of renewable energy policies.