Philippines plans PV exemption zones to balance solar and food security

Officials are considering a digital geofence around about 3 million hectares of flat agricultural land, especially rice-growing areas, to guide solar developers toward suitable sites. The move comes as the Philippines accelerates solar deployment and has become a major destination for solar panel imports, with 4 GW of Chinese modules imported in the first four months of the year and another 3 GW heading to the country as of July. The policy also sits alongside planned green energy auctions, including agrisolar and aquasolar rounds. For developers, land classification is becoming a core permitting variable as solar scales in high-demand Asian markets.