[Kasalikasan] Catching some rays

Is it time to go solar now?

Solar power is slipping into the mainstream because of the fuel crisis. Recently, I’ve been seeing posts in Home Buddies, an online group of home improvement enthusiasts, of people asking how others switched to solar, the pros and cons of the technology, and important considerations before making the shift.

Before the latter half of Holy Week, the group’s administrator is already organizing a livestreamed Q&A on solar. Sounds nice, ‘no? 

Hi, I’m Iya Gozum, climate and environment reporter for Rappler. For a long time switching to solar has been a niche business despite the benefits. I didn’t imagine it would take a war to inspire a swell of organic interest.

A big hurdle to going solar is the upfront cost that “can range between P100,000 to P300,000 depending on the home’s needs,” wrote Rappler’s business reporter Tatiana Maligro in her report. Requirements are inconsistent per locality. Processing times differ. There is a bottleneck in bureaucracy.

Despite issues, consumer mindsets are changing as technology becomes cheaper and information gets more readily available. Solar is no longer a “nice-to-have” but a necessity in areas where there are frequent outages, Brenda Valerio of New Energy Nexus Philippines said in this interview. 

The industry remains fractured, said Valerio. And their group has been organizing solar community meetups to gather solar companies, suppliers, contractors, enthusiasts, local governments. Growing popularity has paved the way to “guerilla” installations. In July 2025, policy group Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities mapped over 1,800 megawatts of rooftop solar capacity across 174 towns in the Philippines. 

What this uptick in interest shows is that people are ready to have conversations on how to insulate themselves from price shocks if there is a viable alternative. 

I could only hope that the conversation will soon spill over to the electrification of our public transport. This is a “pipe dream” that I wrote about in 2023. The dream of quieter roads and cleaner air. A breathable city. – Rappler.com

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