Philippines adds 899 MW of solar in 2025
Figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency say the Philippines’ cumulative solar capacity neared 3.9 GW by the end of last year. Deployment rates look set to increase in the coming years, led by a gigawatt-sized pipeline of projects procured under the country’s green energy auctions.
April 20, 2026 Patrick Jowett
The Philippines installed 899 MW of solar in 2025, according to figures published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
The agency’s Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026 report says the Philippines had a cumulative solar capacity of 3,892 MW by the end of 2025, up from 2,993 MW by the end of 2024.
The Philippines’ solar market is currently dominated by ground-mounted solar projects. Figures published by the country’s Department of Energy (DOE) state the Philippines had installed 3,492 MW of ground-mounted solar by the end of last year, compared to 52 MW of behind-the-meter capacity.
Lam Pham and Alnie Demoral, energy analysts at Ember specializing in Asian markets, told pv magazine key drivers of the Philippines’ solar market have been the declining cost of solar and the DOE’s green energy auction (GEA) program. Last year saw the conclusion of the fourth round of the program, allocating over 10 GW of solar, storage and wind projects for the largest awarded capacity under the program to date. The DOE confirmed plans for GEA-7 last week, to focus on ground-mounted, rooftop and floating solar systems, as it works toward a target of procuring an additional 25 GW of renewables under the GEA scheme by 2035.
The commercial and industrial market segment has been supported by rising electricity tariffs and net-zero or renewable energy mandates, Pham and Demoral added. The residential market segment saw completion of the 6.5 MW Ning Ning solar rooftop project last November. The project is the country's largest solar project for housing and has also been billed as the world’s first grid-connected, solar rooftop project within a social housing community.
Among other notable projects to begin operating in the Philippines last year was the 197 MW Citicore Solar Batangas 1 plus 320 MWh battery energy storage project, touted as the country’s first solar baseload power plant. Work also continues on the SanMar solar project, under development by ACEN, renewable energy platform of Filipino conglomerate Ayala Group. The project is being constructed in the province of Zambales on around 500 hectares of lahar-covered land following the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption. Billed as the largest operational solar project in the Philippines to date, its first two phases, equating to 384 MW, are now operational, with the project expected to reach its full 585 MW capacity by 2027.
Last year also saw the Philippines' first megawatt-scale floating solar plant, a 4.99 MW array on the Malubong reservoir, reach completion. Further floating solar build out is expected, Pham and Demoral told pv magazine, with a study funded by the Philippine Energy Research & Policy Institute identifying some of the country’s dams as suitable for PV deployment.
Pham and Demoral said it is likely more solar will be added in the Philippines this year than last, largely down to the country's gigawatt-sized project pipeline from the GEA program. Work is also ongoing on the gigawatt-scale Terra Solar project, after it reached grid synchronization in February. Once completed, the project will be one of the world’s largest integrated solar-plus-storage sites, combining 3.5 GW of solar with 4.5 GWh of storage.
The Philippines has been working on streamlining its net-metering processes and announced the acceleration of applications in February, which is expected to bring further interest in the program. As of May last year, the country had an aggregate net-metering capacity of 157 MW.
Pham and Demoral said the Philippines' solar market would benefit from increasing the net-metering cap beyond its current 100 kW, as well as the strengthening of grid integration and for its energy virtual one-stop shop, a web-based decision-making platform for power projects, to include more agencies.
They also recommended the removal or reduction of the 30% export cap on distributed energy resources currently in place, which stipulates that a solar installation up to 1 MW in size can export a maximum 30% of its capacity.