The Philippines installed more than one gigawatt (GW) of generation capacity this year, with most of the plants fed by renewable sources, the country’s Department of Energy (DOE) has reported.

About 956 MW were connected to the grids across the Southeast Asian archipelago as of November. The new capacity comes from 14 plants: 12 renewables-based, one oil-run and one natural gas-fired, according to the DOE.

Additionally 160 MW of battery energy storage capacity was added in the Luzon and Visayas islands, it said.

The report on the DOE website said grid interconnection was ongoing for Stage 1 of Terra Solar Philippines Inc’s Terra Solar Project following the energization of two substations each with a capacity of 500 kilovolts. Stage 1 will unlock 364 MW of the project’s planned 2,500 solar capacity supported by battery energy storage systems. The DOE expects Stage 1 to start commercial operation in the first quarter of 2026.

The projects are part of a target launched 2024 by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to build 200 power generation projects in three years, the DOE said.

“To help ensure that committed capacity is delivered as scheduled, the DOE is implementing active project monitoring across generation and energy storage developments”, it added. “This includes close coordination with project proponents and NGCP [National Grid Corporation of the Philippines] on grid interconnection readiness, regular tracking of construction and commissioning milestones, and early identification of bottlenecks that may affect timelines, such as permitting constraints, right-of-way issues, equipment delivery risks and site-level implementation challenges.

“Through these efforts, the DOE aims to strengthen accountability, address issues before they escalate into delays and ensure that new capacity additions can reliably support the grid when they are needed most”.

On December 24 the DOE said it had terminated 84 renewable energy service contracts to date this year for failure to comply with the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP) terms.

“These terminated renewable energy service contracts represent an estimated 5,372.209 MW of potential capacity that had been factored into the country’s energy planning assumptions”, the DOE said in an online statement.

“The DOE is actively revisiting supply-demand scenarios and undertaking further system planning to determine appropriate next steps toward meeting established generation targets”.

The DOE said it would “continue to uphold high standards for the succeeding GEAP rounds and may impose further sanctions, including blacklisting, forfeiture of performance bonds and the imposition of applicable penalties”.

The Philippines aims to raise the share of renewables in its power mix to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040, as set in the DOE’s “Philippine Energy Plan 2023-50”.

The roadmap also aims for 10 percent energy savings on oil products and electricity between 2040 and 2050; a 50 percent electric vehicle penetration rate in road transport by 2040; and the adoption of advanced and smart grid technologies.

According to the DOE’s latest power statistics report, published June 15, 2025, coal remained the biggest contributor to the country’s generation in 2024 at nearly 80,000 gigawatt hours (GWh). Coal was followed by renewables at over 28,000 GWh. Gas accounted for over 18,000 GWh, while over 1,300 GWh came from oil.

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