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To reduce the dependencies on depleted fossil fuel sources, ASEAN countries adopted renewable energy policies to ensure future energy security. Due to the regions' ideal geographic positions and climatic condition, the solar power generation has been increasing prominence among the sources of renewable energy. Therefore, the study aims to highlight the difference in the potential of solar renewable energy and its development in the respective countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan. This paper reviews the solar energy availability, targets, and initiatives for their growth in the respective countries based on the review of published papers, country reports as well as from analysis using an open source tool. Analysis on the potential specific photovoltaic power output using the Global Solar Atlas v2.6 by Solargis found that all four countries have about the same amount of median specific photovoltaic power output with the highest is Malaysia (3.71 kWh/kWp) while Japan is the lowest (3.39 kWh/kWp). In the last decade, the ASEAN countries have started to harness their solar power through solar photovoltaics with steady growth in Malaysia, a late but impressive sudden development in Vietnam and relatively slower implementation in Indonesia. In Japan, solar energy development has grown considerably throughout the decade. From the findings, solar energy has great potentials in these ASEAN countries, and with proper implementation, ASEAN countries will have significant growth in the solar generation for the next decade, as witnessed in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]