Solar group pushes use of rooftop panels

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Solar and Storage Energy Alliance (PSSEA) is calling for the adoption of rooftop solar to mitigate an impending power crisis.

In a statement, PSSEA urged the government to deploy solar panels on roofs, especially in homes and commercial establishments.

In 2021, the Department of Energy said the Philippines consumed 106.114 million megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity, with 32.96 percent used by the residential sector, 19.90 percent by the commercial sector, and 26.03 percent by the industrial sector.

The alliance said encouraging homes, offices and factories to install solar on their roof would accelerate the generation of more clean electricity.

“As an example, residences consumed 34.9 million MWh in 2021. If government targets solar rooftop in five percent of households, a potential of 673 MW can come online within 12 months,” the PSSEA said.

“This will provide relief to the grid and is certainly an immediate solution compared to the development of utility scale solar which takes three years to deploy,” it said.

To accelerate the deployment of rooftop solar,  the PSSEA bared a four-point policy agenda which include the removal of the 100 KW cap for net-metering, simplified application of incentives, standardized protocol for LGU permit issuance, and access to financing.

The group said the continuous decline in the cost of solar panels shortens the payback period of rooftop solar to four years.

“No other financial instruments promise such returns considering the savings to be generated for the remaining 20-year life of the solar panel after payback,” PSSEA said.