The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) has identified 1,846.08 megawatts (MW) of rooftop solar capacity across 174 cities and municipalities in the Philippines, according to data from its new solar mapping tool.
The Solar Power Estimation of Capacities and Tracking using Machine Learning (SPECTRUM) tool found 1,309.64 MW in Luzon, 472.48 MW in Visayas and 61.08 MW in Mindanao.
SPECTRUM is a proprietary model and web platform developed by the ICSC that visualizes rooftop solar installations and estimates existing solar capacity.
“Solar energy is not just about sustainability. It is about economic empowerment, especially for those in underserved and last-mile communities,” said Angelo Kairos dela Cruz, ICSC executive director.
“Through initiatives like SPECTRUM, we turn research into evidence-based policies that guide national planning and empower local governments to adopt climate-smart strategies,” he said.
The tool aims to support national efforts to increase the share of renewable energy (RE) in the Philippines’ energy mix by using machine learning and satellite data to provide updated estimates of solar energy capacity.
ICSC chief data scientist Jephraim Manansala noted that unregistered rooftop solar capacities are becoming more significant, posing a challenge for distribution utilities to adapt their operations and planning.
“Despite being unregistered, these growing capacities could still contribute significantly to renewable energy generation targets. That’s why we need a clearer, more granular view of what’s already on the ground,” Manansala said.
SPECTRUM’s geographic scope was developed in three phases: major metropolitan areas such as Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, and Iloilo City; expanded to the Greater Metro Manila area and other cities; and finally, included other highly urbanized cities, municipalities, and Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) areas.
Detected installations are categorized into: residential (below 100 kilowatts (kW) or under the Net-Metering Program), commercial and industrial (above 100 kW or registered under the Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Program), and utility scale (above 1 MW).
Its aid of the total capacity detected, 1,398.25 MW are utility scale, 202.03 MW are commercial and 245.8 MW are residential installations.
The ICSC focused on precision in evaluating these capacities. Residential installations achieved a precision of 87.6 percent, commercial installations 87.1 percent and utility scale projects a higher precision rate of 98.47 percent.
