Exclusive
The Taliban’s New War Begins at Home The Taliban’s New War Begins at Home Panama removed from EU’s tax haven ‘blacklist’ a decade after the Panama Papers Panama removed from EU’s tax haven ‘blacklist’ a decade after the Panama Papers Crackdown and Controversy: The Battle Over Beach Bars and Noise in Phuket’s Bang Tao Crackdown and Controversy: The Battle Over Beach Bars and Noise in Phuket’s Bang Tao
Current Affairs

In Philippines, solar power becomes ‘practical necessity’ as energy costs soar

Joab Jorge runs Dream Latte Cafe, a speciality coffee shop and small-batch roastery, with his mother Ces out of their old ancestral home in Pilar,…

By Samantha Johnson / July 8, 2026

Joab Jorge runs Dream Latte Cafe, a speciality coffee shop and small-batch roastery, with his mother Ces out of their old ancestral home in Pilar, a town in Bataan province some 180km (112 miles) northwest of Manila.

Rising electricity costs and frequent blackouts have put a strain on the business, which has already had to raise prices by 10 per cent to cover higher costs for goods and imported coffee beans since the energy crisis triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in February.

The squeeze pushed Jorge and his mother, 60, to consider installing solar panels to guard against the outages, which Ces said were “bad for business” because they could shut the cafe for hours at a time. “Who’s going to come to you then?”

The pair have seen promising results since installing a hybrid solar system at home, where they carry out part of their business, including roasting coffee beans and baking the pastries sold at the cafe.

“Before using solar panels, we couldn’t run everything at the same time. If she was baking and I was roasting, the lights would dim. We’d have to take turns. Now, there is no problem,” said Jorge, 30.

A team of installers set up a new rooftop solar system at a home in Manila on May 1. Between March and May, the Philippines imported US$407 million worth of solar panels from China. Photo: AP
A team of installers set up a new rooftop solar system at a home in Manila on May 1. Between March and May, the Philippines imported US$407 million worth of solar panels from China. Photo: AP
Their experience mirrors that of many Filipinos, who are turning to rooftop solar to soften the blow of soaring electricity costs, which have climbed even further in the wake of the US-Iran war.

Don't Miss: