PH Solar & Electricity News — Week of August 10, 2026
TL;DR
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.
Grid
Visayas grid hits red alert Wednesday, 229 MW short of demand
NGCP put the Visayas grid on red alert from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, with yellow alerts on either side. Available capacity sat at 2,191 MW against peak demand of 2,420 MW, a shortfall of 229 MW, which NGCP attributed to coal plant outages and limited imports from Mindanao. A red alert is the level at which rotational interruptions become possible.
What this means
This is the second Visayas alert in as many weeks, and it escalated from yellow to red. Worth being clear about what solar does here: a plain grid-tied system shuts off the instant the grid does, because anti-islanding protection stops it backfeeding lines crews are working on. Staying powered through a rotating outage means a battery in a hybrid setup. Rotational cuts are the one outage type that favours storage most, because they happen on a rough schedule and often in daylight.
Rates
ERC drafts a resolution to strip VAT from system loss charges
The ERC is drafting a resolution that would stop VAT being applied to system loss charges, reclassifying them as government-mandated and so outside the gross receipts of generators, distribution utilities and the grid operator. Chair Francis Saturnino Juan put system loss at roughly ₱50 billion a year and the consumer saving at about ₱6 billion. It still needs BIR backing.
What this means
System loss is a real line on your bill, and this would trim it rather than remove it. Do not confuse the two: the NEA warned that 89 of 121 electric cooperatives would run at a loss if system loss itself were eliminated without subsidy, which is a different proposal entirely. For a homeowner the practical effect is small against an all-in Meralco residential rate of roughly ₱14-15 per kWh. Solar maths does not change on a ₱6-billion national adjustment.
Policy
DOE targets 121.3 GW of capacity by 2040, including 24 GW of new solar
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin set a target of 121.3 GW of installed capacity by 2040, against 32.2 GW today. The build-out she described leans on 24 GW of new ground-mounted solar, 20 GW of gas and close to 10 GW of onshore wind. Garin said projects already in the pipeline will not cover the gap, and told bureaus to judge plants on delivered output rather than nameplate capacity.
What this means
A 2040 target is not a reason to wait. Even taken at face value it is fourteen years out, and capacity targets are about supply security rather than price — nothing here says your rate falls. The 24 GW of ground-mounted solar is utility-scale generation sold into the grid, not rooftop, and it reaches you as supply rather than as a discount. The number that decides your own case is still your current bill against an install price today.
Market
ACEN first-half profit up 411 percent, spot price realised at ₱4.90 per kWh
ACEN reported first-half net income of ₱3.9 billion, up 411 percent from ₱763 million a year earlier, with electricity sales revenue rising to ₱22.51 billion from ₱15.3 billion. Philippine output reached 1,091 GWh, up 17 percent on better wind performance in Ilocos Norte, and its realised spot market price rose 29 percent to ₱4.90 per kWh.
What this means
That ₱4.90 per kWh spot figure is the most useful number in this week for a homeowner, because it explains something people find unfair about net metering. Generation is the wholesale end of the market. Retail lands near ₱14-15 per kWh once transmission, distribution, system loss and taxes stack on top. That gap is exactly why exported surplus credits at generation cost, roughly ₱5-7 per kWh, and not at the retail rate you pay. Self-consumption beats export for the same reason.
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