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World's largest solar-plus-storage farm begins feeding the Philippine grid

World's largest solar-plus-storage farm begins feeding the Philippine grid

Built World

MTerra Solar inaugurates 1,373 megawatts in Phase 1, with commercial operation set for September 2026 and the full 3,500-megawatt build-out due in 2027

August 1st, 2026: Phase 1 grid testing scheduled to begin

Overview

Updated Jul 16

On July 14, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inaugurated Phase 1 of MTerra Solar as the world's largest solar-plus-storage farm. Phase 1 has 1,373 megawatts of solar capacity and 825 megawatts of battery storage — 3,300 megawatt-hours in total — now feeding power into the Manila grid from two provinces north of the capital.

Phase 1 is about 91 percent complete. Grid testing starts the first week of August; if results clear in 24 to 30 days, commercial operations begin in September. The full project (3,500 megawatts of solar and 4,500 megawatt-hours of storage) targets completion in 2027.

Why it matters

A single site can now supply steady, schedulable solar power to millions of Filipino homes, easing a fast-growing grid's reliance on imported fuel.

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Key Indicators

1,373 MW
Phase 1 capacity energized
Solar capacity online at inauguration; 600 MW is committed to Meralco under the power supply agreement.
3,500 MW
Full solar capacity
Planned peak output when the project completes in 2027.
4,500 MWh
Battery storage at full build-out
Energy the site can store and dispatch at completion; Phase 1 currently has 3,300 MWh online.
2.4M
Households powered
Projected homes served once fully built.
$4B
Project cost
About 200 billion pesos across both phases.

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People Involved

Organizations Involved

Timeline

November 2024 2027

5 events Latest: August 1st, 2026 · 1 month ago
Tap a bar to jump to that date
  1. Full build-out targeted

    Upcoming Projection

    The complete 3,500-megawatt solar farm and 4,500-megawatt-hour battery are due online, enough for about 2.4 million households.

  2. Phase 1 grid testing scheduled to begin

    Latest Projection

    Grid testing for Phase 1 is set to start the first week of August. The 24-to-30-day test period puts commercial operations in September 2026.

  3. Phase 1 inaugurated, 600 MW flows to Meralco

    Milestone

    President Marcos and Meralco chief Manuel Pangilinan inaugurate Phase 1, which begins delivering 600 megawatts of mid-merit power to the Manila grid.

  4. First grid connection

    Milestone

    MTerra achieves initial synchronization with the Luzon grid, months ahead of full commissioning.

  5. Groundbreaking in Nueva Ecija

    Milestone

    President Marcos leads the groundbreaking for MTerra Solar in Peñaranda, framing it as an energy-security project.

Scenarios

1

MTerra reaches full 3,500-MW capacity on schedule

Possible Resolves by End of 2027

Discussed by: Meralco PowerGen, PV Tech, BusinessWorld

Construction of the remaining solar arrays and battery banks stays on track. The full 3,500-megawatt solar farm and 4,500-megawatt-hour storage system come online in 2027, and Terra Solar declares commercial operation of the complete project.

2

Full completion slips past 2027

Possible Resolves by Jan 31, 2028

Discussed by: Industry trade press covering Philippine grid connections

Grid-connection queues, equipment delays, or financing friction push the final phases beyond the 2027 target. Later phases energize in stages through 2028 or later, even as Phase 1 keeps operating.

3

Meralco commits to a new utility-scale solar-plus-storage project

Possible Resolves by Jul 14, 2027

Discussed by: Meralco PowerGen, Context.ph

Meralco's generation arm treats MTerra as a template and announces another large solar-plus-storage build. A formal investment decision or groundbreaking follows for a separate site.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

2020

Bhadla Solar Park reaches full capacity (2020)

India finished Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan, then the largest solar farm in the world at about 2,245 megawatts. It sprawled across roughly 14,000 acres of desert.

Then

The park added cheap daytime power and pushed India's solar tariffs to record lows.

Now

It became the benchmark other mega-projects measured themselves against, and showed that gigawatt-scale solar was buildable.

Why this matters now

Bhadla set the size record MTerra now claims to surpass, but it lacked large storage. MTerra's batteries are what let it sell power after sunset.

December 2021

California's Moss Landing battery storage comes online (2021)

Vistra energized the Moss Landing battery in California, one of the largest storage sites in the world. It could store hundreds of megawatt-hours to steady a grid heavy with solar.

Then

The site helped California absorb midday solar and release it into the evening peak.

Now

It proved grid-scale batteries could firm up renewables, though a 2025 fire also exposed safety risks in packing cells densely.

Why this matters now

Moss Landing showed why storage matters for a solar-heavy grid. MTerra bundles that storage into the same site as the panels, at larger scale.

Sources

(12)