Philippines-based Citicore Renewable Energy is planning to expand its installed solar capacity from 0.29GW to 2.56GW by 2026.

This ambitious plan was outlined by CEO Oliver Tan during an interview with Reuters.

Currently trailing behind ACEN as one of the largest solar providers in the country, Citicore aims to add 1GW of capacity by the end of 2025 and a further 1.17GW in 2026.

The company's growth strategy aligns with national efforts to decarbonise the Philippines' grid, a notable shift given that it had Southeast Asia's most coal-dependent grid as recently as 2023.

In a significant move in early 2025, PT Pertamina's renewable energy division acquired a 20% stake in Citicore, signalling strong support for renewable initiatives within Southeast Asia.

The push for renewables has already led to record-breaking increases, with government data revealing that renewable capacity surged 10% or 0.8GW in 2024 alone, reaching a total of 9.2GW, a figure higher than that of the previous three years combined.

According to Tan, six new projects are expected south of Manila in 2025 while three others will be developed further north and another aims to meet demand in the Visayas region.

This surge from Citicore is projected to raise national installed solar capacities by almost 50% more than the levels recorded above 2GW in 2024.

Tan emphasised that these expansions would put them well on their way towards achieving their goal of 5GW of solar capacity and an additional wind energy target amounting to 0.36GW by respective deadlines set for both sectors within this decade.

He warned that such aggressive state-backed initiatives might limit private sector opportunities within corporate power supply agreements throughout the renewables industry: "We are likely to see the share of corporate power purchase agreements shrink this year as the government increases tendering of projects supplying the grid.”