PH Solar & Electricity News
A weekly roundup of Philippine solar, electricity rate, and grid news. Each item links to its original source and adds what it means for a homeowner deciding on solar. We publish when there is enough worth reporting — quiet weeks are skipped rather than padded.
PH Solar & Electricity News — Week of September 28, 2026
2026-09-28 · 5 items
The Visayas had 2,572 MW available against 2,374 MW of demand on 28 September and still went to yellow alert, because a 198 MW margin is not a reserve. The same three coal units are still down, and Therma Visayas 1 is now thirteen days past the return date the DOE published for it. The pipeline is finally reading the problem correctly: of 137 projects endorsed for grid impact studies in the first half, 85 were battery storage. The ERC approved a ten-year supply deal for La Union at ₱5.9684 per kWh, which is worth holding next to the ₱14.74 you actually pay and to what your exported solar earns. Oakridge and First Gen added 1.053 MWp of rooftop across two Mandaue commercial sites. In Palawan, generation costs over ₱30 per kWh in places while households pay about ₱13.
PH Solar & Electricity News — Week of September 21, 2026
2026-09-24 · 4 items
The Visayas spent another evening on red alert on 24 September, 2,292 MW available against 2,495 MW of demand, with three large coal units still down. One of them, Therma Visayas 1, had a published return date of 15 September. ACEN gave up two solar contracts worth 456 MW because it could not buy the land in Pagbilao or reach the site in Botolan. The DOE told a hearing it now wants the Visayas planned as three subregions that can each run islanded. Basic Energy broke ground on a 43 MWac solar plant in Negros with no battery attached. The theme two weeks running is that the problem is the evening, and almost nothing being built addresses the evening.
PH Solar & Electricity News — Week of September 7, 2026
2026-09-07 · 5 items
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin says she is working to fix the Visayas and Mindanao supply problem before Christmas, after NGCP logged 93 yellow and 30 red alerts in the Visayas so far this year. The fix is 170 MW of batteries across Cebu, Negros and Panay plus two diesel power barges due within September. Meanwhile MTerra Solar Phase 1 declared commercial operations with 950 MWac of solar and an 825 MW battery, and ACEN lent its own units more than P9 billion for a 500 MW battery and a 300 MW solar project in Zambales. Everything this week is about storage. Added 10 September: August spot prices in the Visayas and Mindanao hit 20-year records near ₱20 per kWh and will land on September bills, while Luzon fell 34 percent.
PH Solar & Electricity News — Week of August 31, 2026
2026-09-01 · 4 items
Ember now puts Philippine rooftop solar payback at 3.1 years, down from about four, and panel imports rose to $483 million in 2025. A Pulse Asia survey found nine in ten Filipinos want government action on rooftop solar affordability, while homeowners report net metering taking four to six months against the DOE mandated ten working days. The Visayas grid ran a seven-hour red alert on Tuesday and Mindanao is now on yellow alerts too. Geothermal drew a ₱10-billion derisking facility with 17 firms queuing, and First Gen contracted 25 MW of it to Alliance Global.
PH Solar & Electricity News — Week of August 24, 2026
2026-08-29 · 5 items
The Department of Energy is recommending that the ERC suspend around 40 generation companies that ignored show-cause orders, and about 10 of them are not even running. The Visayas grid went to red alert again on Friday, 95 MW short. PNB lent ₱6.215 billion to a 166 MWp solar and battery project in Iloilo, and RCBC lent ₱2.3 billion to a 75 MW solar park in Pangasinan. The DOE also wants a coal blending terminal built in Mindanao, noting that almost all Philippine coal is imported from Indonesia.
PH Solar & Electricity News — Week of August 17, 2026
2026-08-19 · 5 items
Meralco August rate fell ₱0.0428 to ₱14.7833 per kWh, but only because a ₱9.5-billion refund landed on the bill. The FIT-All rose 67 percent to ₱0.3359 per kWh from the same billing period. NGCP put the Visayas grid on red alert on both Monday and Tuesday, with the DOE expecting alerts to continue into next week and reach Mindanao. Meralco worked monsoon outages down to the last 2,000 customers. Goldilocks switched on 1,010 kWp of rooftop solar under a First Gen power purchase agreement.
PH Solar & Electricity News — Week of August 10, 2026
2026-08-12 · 4 items
The Visayas grid went to red alert on Wednesday afternoon, 229 MW short of peak demand, a step up from last week yellow alert. The ERC has a draft resolution that would stop VAT being charged on system loss, worth about ₱6 billion a year to consumers. The DOE set a 121.3 GW capacity target for 2040, including 24 GW of new ground-mounted solar. ACEN first-half profit rose 411 percent.
PH Solar & Electricity News — Week of August 3, 2026
2026-08-04 · 5 items
The ERC let Meralco recover ₱8.71 billion in under-collected pass-through charges over 36 months while a separate ₱9.5-billion refund runs for six months, TransCo asked to raise the FIT-All for 2027, the Visayas grid went on yellow alert, and AboitizPower started a 239-MWp solar plant with battery storage in Negros Occidental.