The Philippines Solar and Storage Energy Alliance (PSSEA) is aiming to advance the country’s solar potential by probing into the industry’s constraints.
In a report by the Manila Standard, PSSEA President Jose Rafael Mendoza expressed optimism about the solar potential in the Philippines. He cited data from both the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) and Visayan Electric Company (VECO), indicating that despite net metering having less than 0.1% penetration in customer count, it already accounted for 1% of their peak demand.
Recently, the Philippine Solar and Storage Energy Alliance (PSSEA) assembled a roundtable discussion with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to discuss the urgent concerns within the industry.
Mendoza said PSSEA also planned to connect with various stakeholder groups and aimed for these alliances to release a comprehensive baseline market report, outlining the current state of the industry.
Moreover, Mendoza shared that PSSEA has partnered with the data science firm Thinking Machines. The goal is to maximize artificial intelligence and geospatial analysis through satellite imagery. This would permit the counting of rooftop areas and the use of computer vision to identify installations with solar panels.
The goal of this project was to address the status of solar rooftop installations, especially those that fail to register with the DOE for incentives. The data from the DOE revealed that there are only 91 awarded solar rooftop service contracts, with a combined capacity of 75.76 megawatts (MW).
Additionally, PSSEA also aimed to discuss the concerns raised by distribution utilities (DUs), as some solar installations have received customer complaints regarding exaggerated savings or inadequate electrical regulation.
