Spanish and Japanese companies are seriously considering investing in renewable energy in the country, primarily offshore wind projects, according to a source from the Department of Energy. The source indicated that the Spanish company is a new entrant in the Philippine power sector and its interest is mainly on offshore wind farm installations. For the Japanese firm, it already has well-entrenched presence in the country – but its previous engagements had been more in the engineering and construction aspects of power plants as well as other infrastructure ventures. The energy official emphasized that “the applications of these foreign companies are still under evaluation – and they are also eyeing to secure service contracts with 100% foreign ownership.” The DOE is aggressively promoting offshore wind investments in the country, given the vast potential of the Philippines in this RE technology, plus, it is not competing with the country’s land resources that have to be allocated for food production. A legal opinion issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) last year chiefly underpinned the DOE-promulgated policy which opened up the RE sector to 100-percent foreign ownership. And since the effectivity of the DOE Circular in December, the interest of many foreign investors for capital injection into the country’s RE sector had been significantly whetted. On the queries of some RE industry players as to why the DOE continues on its issuance of service contracts despite the declaration of the DOJ opinion that wind and solar are not classified as "natural resources", Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla opined that "the state has the power to regulate any activity on its territory." He qualified even if these ventures are not subject to the requirement of the Philippine Constitution for 60:40 ownership, “it doesn’t mean that we cannot regulate,” adding that investments in the RE sector are “always subject to government regulation.” The energy department signed the first 100-percent foreign service contract with a Danish investor for three (3) offshore wind projects with aggregate capacity of 2,000 megawatts; and the agency is expecting that many more would be following that trend. In the "energy transition agenda" being pursued by the Marcos administration, massive scale RE installations coupled with energy storage systems will be a major part of the country’s bid for energy security. The yearly increase in RE capacities to be integrated into the power mix had been set at 2.52-percent; and that had been anchored on the goal of achieving 35-percent RE share by 2030; and a heftier 50-percent by 2040.