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Reuters

People in the Philippines are flocking to install solar power on rooftops and escape the burden of soaring electricity prices, making it the world’s biggest spender on solar panels since the war in Iran started.
Top power distributor Meralco has raised prices by 10 per cent since the Middle East conflict began in late February. Now, a median household spends around 12 per cent of monthly ‌income on electricity, assuming it consumes 200 kilowatt-hours – around the monthly average for three people.
The Philippines is one of the few countries in Southeast Asia with barely any power subsidies, and its residential power prices are the highest in the region. Only Singapore comes close, but its citizens’ average purchasing power is nearly 13 times higher.
Adrian Sabatera, a 39-year-old software engineer, thought about getting solar for years but found it too costly. That changed as costs came down and electricity prices kept rising. “I wouldn’t be shocked if a third of the middle-class population eventually finds their way to this set-up,” Sabatera said after recently pulling the trigger on a 570,000 peso (US$9,300) installation at the Manila house he shares with three others.

The rooftop solar rush has resulted in US$407 ‌million in panel imports in the three months through May, a 145 per cent increase from a year earlier, according to trade data from China, which accounts for most global supply. Even when Chinese panel shipments fell 13 per cent in May after a tax rebate removal, ‌exports to the Philippines rose by almost a third.
On paper, the Netherlands remains a larger market for panels, but experts say that is because ⁠it is a transshipment hub.
Philergy ⁠German Solar, a Manila-based installer, received more than 2½ times the number of customer inquiries in the first five months of this year compared to last year. At one point it fielded 3,000 ‌inquiries a day, according to managing partner Jochen Staudter.
Customers are deciding to buy “much faster than before”, Staudter said. “Demand will continue to be driven by high electricity prices.”


In two years, distributed solar capacity could nearly triple to ‌3,500 megawatts, ‌matching the current size of the Philippines’ utility-scale solar fleet, as loan payback times shrank to 3.1 years from four years, said Alnie Demoral, analyst at energy ‌think tank Ember.
Solar accounts for under 4 per cent of national power consumption, government data shows.
A weakening currency has compounded the increase in power prices because the Philippines relies on imported coal and gas to generate power. That has pushed inflation to multi-year highs and slowed growth.
Manila entrepreneur Jason Porciuncula installed a 12-kilowatt system with ⁠battery storage in January. As prices hit record highs in May, his monthly bill dropped to a fifth of last summer’s 21,000 pesos.

But it is not all smooth sailing. Installations were lagging behind demand due to component hoarding, volatile equipment costs and inadequate quality checks, said Brenda Valerio, Philippines director ‌at New Energy Nexus.
The government provides ‌loans for solar of up to 500,000 pesos at 5 per cent interest, below market rates. But it excludes private-sector workers.
Another deterrent: high upfront costs, usually above average annual household incomes of 353,200 pesos.
“The opportunity is real, but the upfront cost is often too high for a household or business, no matter how quick the payback time is,” Ember’s Demoral said.


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The Philippines

Philippines becomes world’s top solar spender amid Middle East energy crisis

Workers install solar panels onto the roof of a home in Manila on April 30. Photo: AP

An installer with EcoSolutions places a solar panel onto the roof of a home in Manila on April 30. Photo: AP

A worker checks a batch of solar photovoltaic modules for export at a new energy company in Lianyungang, China’s Jiangsu province, on June 8. Photo: AFP

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Smoke and flames rise from the site of US-Israeli airstrikes on an oil depot in Tehran on March 7. Photo: Sasan/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images/TNS

A residential building that was damaged in a US-Israeli strike earlier this year is seen in Tehran, Iran, on June 7. Photo: West Asia News Agency/Reuters

US Vice President J.D. Vance speaks to the media after the US and Iran held high-level talks in Switzerland on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Iranians shop for clothes at a roadside vendor near Vanak Square in Tehran on June 10. Photo: AFP

Copies of an Iranian daily newspaper bearing an image of US President Donald Trump and a headline that reads “Gone with the wind” are displayed at a kiosk in Tehran on June 18. Photo: AFP

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A tourist surfs on the waters of Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte province on June 7. Photo: Xinhua

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Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr (third from left), with his wife Liza Araneta-Marcos and their son, Congressman Sandro Marcos (left), mark the country’s independence day in Manila on June 12. Photo: EPA

House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III is from a prominent political clan in the Philippines. Photo: Handout

Filipinos feed their ballots into a vote counting machine at a school used as a voting centre in Quezon City, Metro Manila, on May 12, 2025. The Philippines’ next national election is due in 2028. Photo: EPA-EFE

Chinese-Filipino groups downplay Sinophobia over earthquake aid in Philippines

Chinese-Filipinos walk along Binondo in Manila. The community has been involved in disaster relief efforts in the Philippines for many years. Photo: Jeoffrey Maitem

Filipino protesters hold placards during a protest in front of the Chinese embassy in Manila in August last year. Photo: EPA

A collapsed building in General Santos after an earthquake hit the city and other parts of the Philippines on June 8. Photo: AP

A press conference held at the National Bureau of Investigation office in Manila in February 2025 on the arrest of two Chinese nationals and their Philippine accomplices for alleged espionage. Photo: AFP

Why would Filipinos holiday at home if abroad is cheaper?

A Cebu Pacific passenger plane takes off from Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. Photo: AFP

A remote fishing village in the extreme northern Philippine island province of Batanes. Photo: AFP

Tourists enjoy a beach on an island off the coast of Palawan province in the Philippines. Photo: AFP

A plane takes off from Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport, destination unknown. Photo: AFP

Tourists walk along a street in El Nido, Palawan province, in the Philippines last year. Photo: AFP

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Asia

Southeast Asia

The rooftop solar rush has resulted in US$407 ‌million in panel imports from March to May, a 145 per cent increase from a year earlier


The rooftop solar rush has resulted in US$407 ‌million in panel imports from March to May, a 145 per cent increase from a year earlier.


Philippines becomes world’s top solar spender amid Middle East energy crisis

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The rooftop solar rush has resulted in US$407 ‌million in panel imports from March to May, a 145 per cent increase from a year earlier

The rooftop solar rush has resulted in US$407 ‌million in panel imports from March to May, a 145 per cent increase from a year earlier