A new solar mapping tool has calculated the Philippines has over 1.8 GW of rooftop solar capacity.

The Solar Power Estimation of Capacities and Tracking Using Machine Learning (Spectrum) tool, developed by the Quezon City-based Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), is a proprietary model and web platform. It uses machine learning and satellite data to provide estimates of solar energy capacity across the Philippines.

When analyzing 174 cities and municipalities across the country, the platform found over 1.3 GW of rooftop solar capacity in Luzon, 472 MW in Visayas and 61 MW in Mindanao, amounting to 1.846 GW nationwide.

Of this detected capacity, almost 1.4 GW is utility-scale rooftop solar, while commercial installations covered 203 MW and residential installations, including those under the Philippines’ net-metering program, made up 245 MW.

ICSC says the current version of Spectrum achieves a precision of 87.6% when assessing residential rooftop installations, compared to 87.1% for commercial installations and almost 98.5% for utility-scale installations.

Jephraim Manansala, ICSC Chief Data Scientist, commented that unregistered solar rooftop capacities are becoming “more significant across the country, which poses a challenge to distribution utilities to adapt their operations and planning.”

“Despite being unregistered, these growing capacities could still contribute significantly to renewable energy generation targets,” Manansala added. “That’s why we need a clearer, more granular view of what’s already on the ground.”

Mylene Capongcol, Assistant Secretary for the Department of Energy of the Philippines, said that the mapping tool will help identify potential projects and explore new business models. “This also paves the way for the introduction and expansion of innovative and impactful power purchase agreements,” Capongcol added.

ICSC says it will continue to develop its Spectrum model with aims to improve its precision, expand coverage, and ability to track growth of solar capacities over time. 

According to figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the Philippines’ cumulative solar capacity surpassed 2.9 GW by the end of 2024.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.