Soaring fuel prices linked to conflict in the Middle East are driving a rooftop solar rush in the Philippines and Thailand, but the boom is exposing deep cracks in local markets, according to a briefing note from New Energy Nexus, a nonprofit that supports clean energy entrepreneurs.
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The average weekly installations in the Philippines rose from about 29.5 to 68.6, roughly a 170 per cent jump, even as small installers struggle with supply chain bottlenecks and wild swings in equipment prices, found the analysis. In Thailand, the demand for solar installation training is already running three times above normal, as a shortage of experienced technicians is raising safety and quality concerns.
“The energy crisis for us is no longer an abstract conversation on global fuel prices or geopolitical instability,” said Brenda Valerio, country director of New Energy Nexus Philippines.
She noted that Filipinos are feeling the shock “directly through rising electricity bills, unreliable power in some areas, and growing concerns around energy security,” with fragmented island grids amplifying those impacts. Households and businesses are adopting solar not because it is trendy, Valerio added, but because they want lower, more predictable costs and greater control over their energy supply.
The Philippines, highly dependent on Middle East oil and liquified natural gas (LNG), is considered as among the most impacted in Southeast Asia by war‑driven fuel price spikes, with the crisis helping the solar industry really get its footing.
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The solution cannot just be about deploying more technology. We need stronger ecosystems around the technology … that allow the industry to scale sustainably.
Brenda Valerio, country director, New Energy Nexus Philippines
But 20 local solar installers surveyed by the analysis allege that larger distributors are buying up components in bulk ahead of further price increases and reselling at a premium, leaving small operators with nothing. They also complained of price volatility, where equipment costs are shifting weekly, making it difficut for them to prepare a customer quote.
Due to these bottlenecks, smaller players like SPARC Solar in the province of Albay in Bicol reported they were not able to install anything despite a 150 per cent increase in inquiries while 10KGDC in the province of Bohol has 22 confirmed installation projects sitting in a queue that it cannot fulfill due to lack in supply.
With demand rising,“more inexperienced players are actually entering the market,” Valerio warned, eroding quality through poor installations and wiring.
“This is why the solution cannot just be about deploying more technology. We need stronger ecosystems around the technology, better workforce systems, stronger local networks, financing access, and quality standards that allow the industry to scale sustainably,” Valerio said in a webinar.
In Thailand, the rooftop boom is likewise seeing untrained contractors coming into the sector, said Build Khwamchareon, New Energy Nexus’ head of programmes.
“They use improper installations and unsatisfactory equipment, pushing safety and reliability concerns up alongside demand. One of the key bottlenecks in Thailand’s transition comes from the quality of the people installing the solar itself,” Khwamchareon argued.
However, Khwamchareon said the demand for solar installation training among workers is not just because of oil price volatility linked to the war.
Hotel technicians, electricians, farmers, unemployed tradespeople, and workers in their 50s planning a second career who were surveyed in the Nexus report all signalled their interest for solar training, in response to government moves like tax exemptions for rooftop systems, expanded feed‑in tariffs, net metering and soft loans.
Thailand approved its first big overhaul of home power prices in more than two decades, to take effect from June. Smaller households that use little electricity will pay less, while heavier users will see their bills jump. The clear message from government to high‑use homes is to cut its grid use through rooftop solar, helped by cheap loans, tax breaks and a new net‑billing scheme that should make it worthwhile to sell excess power back to the grid, said the report.
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