PH now China’s No. 2 market for solar panels
The Philippines has emerged as China’s second-largest export market for solar panels, as more Filipinos and businesses invest in the technology amid rising electricity costs and the threat of outages, particularly in the Visayas region.
Based on a report from United Kingdom-based energy think tank Ember, there was “a very recent surge” in solar panel imports in the Philippines, indicating the local market’s growing appetite for rooftop solar installations.
“The supply of panels is already on the ground. The economics are already there. Consumers are keen. Even back in 2024, 82 percent of surveyed households expressed some interest in adopting solar panels,” said Dave Jones, chief analyst at Ember and lead author of the report.
For March and April alone, China exported to the Philippines enough solar panels to generate 3,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity, equivalent to more than half of last year’s figure of 5,068 MW.
The surge in exports in the four months ending April this year made the Philippines the second-largest solar panel market, following the Netherlands.
The report also noted that rooftop solar capacity in the Philippines had soared to about 1,300 MW by early 2026 from 721 MW a year ago.
“The economics of rooftop solar are more attractive than ever and its rapid rise is inevitable,” Jones said.
“The government has an opportunity to carve its own path on rooftop solar, to pull the Philippines out of fossil dependency and onto a path of cheap, abundant electricity,” he added.
Payback
The technology has become even more attractive to consumers as the payback period for residential rooftop solar in the country has dropped from four years to just 3.1 years.
Commercial rooftop payback time likewise went down from 3 years to 2.3 years.
According to the report, electricity rates of Manila Electric Co., the biggest power distributor in the Philippines, had climbed by 14 percent to 17 percent in May.
Jones said that the government should further support solar rooftop deployment, as this supports the shift to renewables.
“Rooftop solar has two key advantages over wind and utility solar: it is built in days, not years and with batteries, it reinforces the grid rather than stretching it,” Jones said.
Countries that are also sourcing their solar panels from China include Pakistan, Brazil, Spain, France, Australia, Thailand, Belgium and Vietnam.
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