The Department of Energy (DOE) is about to finalize the increase in the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), or the minimum level of electricity contracted from renewable energy (RE) developers to 2.52% from the current 1%.
The agency will be holding a virtual public consultation on Friday afternoon to settle the matter.
Prior to this, the DOE formally adopted the incremental hike proposed by the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) in a draft circular.
“[The] NREB in its proposed 2021-2040 [National Renewable Energy Program], recommended to increase [the Minimum Annual Incremental RE Percentage] from the initial one percent (1%) to 2.52% starting 2023, to meet the aspirational target of at least 35% in the total power generation mix by 2030 and more than 50% by 2040,” the draft circular read.
The proposed policy further read that the target RE share by 2030 would be at 36.96% and 55.87% by 2040.
Based on DOE data as of end-2020, coal still dominated the country’s energy mix at 57.2%, followed by RE at 21.2%. The target RE share for the year was 21.24%.
