Secretary of Energy Steven Chu briefs the media during the 54th International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference at the UN headquarters in Vienna in this September 21, 2010 file photo. REUTERS/Herwig Prammer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is already halfway to meeting President Barack Obama’s goal of generating 80 percent of the nation’s electricity from clean energy sources by 2035, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Wednesday.

To help reach that goal the president will propose in his new federal budget spending more than $8 billion on clean energy, including making solar power cost-competitive with fossil fuels by the end of the decade, Chu told reporters at a briefing on the president’s energy plans.