Actually, one of the most relevant debates, among both citizens that government, is related to energy and environmental issue. The development of renewable energy usage is due to several factors such as the political strategic decisions and geographical situation. Indeed the high development of renewable energies requires challenges from a supply chain point of view. In this paper, a thorough survey of the extant literature on the topic of supply chain (SC) and renewable energy (RE) has been conducted. English papers published on international peer-reviewed journals from 2003 to 2013 have been considered. Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) resolves the duality between environmental, economic and social aspects. Sustainable manufacturing practices play an essential role in promoting renewable energy development and commercialization; this will require significant changes to the industry's traditional Supply Chain Management and business model. The aim of the paper is investigate literature insights useful to increase the performance and overcome barriers to the RE supply chain development. Like many typical supply chains, also supply chain related to RE includes elements such as: physical, information, and financial flows. The present research is useful to individualize characteristics of a RE supply chain. Moreover, the research is useful improve the performance of RE supply chain in some aspects like: better control supply chain costs to make renewable energy more affordable; manage supply chain to address weakened demand in the near term, and increase flexibility to handle anticipated rapid growth in the next 3-5 years; In so doing the present research has practical implications that make the results interesting for decision maker about optimal design of a system operating from one renewable energy sources. Moreover, the results are interesting for researchers since are individualized many sectors where it is necessary to proceed with additional research investigations. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.