The Department of Energy (DOE) shares that the country is 53 gigawatts (GW) way in reaching its 2040 renewable energy (RE) capacity target.

Energy Assistant Secretary Mylene C. Capongcol said that the target was seven times the current capacity of 8,264 megawatts (MW). As of the moment, the country would need around 53 gigawatts (GW) of additional RE capacity by 2040, which would have equated to 175 terawatt hours (TW) of generation.

In a Business World article, the DOE said it was able to raise the renewable portfolio standards (RPS) program’s demand for on-grid electricity producers from 1% to roughly 2.52% in 2022.

RPS mandated distribution utilities, retail electricity suppliers, and generation firms to procure a chunk of their supply from qualified RE sources.

Capongcol continued, saying that the Clean Energy Scenarios 1 and 2’s inclusion of nuclear energy has yet to be included in the RE target.

In addition to RPS, the DOE has been implementing initiatives such as the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP), creating a policy framework for offshore wind, and allowing 100% foreign ownership of RE projects.

The assistant secretary added that the department had been working on a revised omnibus guideline for the conferment of service contracts.

Around 1,282 RE contracts with a total potential capacity of 130.3 GW have been awarded by the DOE as of January.