The Philippine solar market changed size in April 2026. A Department of Energy circular lifted the non-residential net metering capacity cap from 100 kW to 1 MW, a tenfold increase that opens commercial and industrial projects which were simply not possible under the scheme before. The opportunity is real and most quoting tools in the market have not caught up: they are configured against the old ceiling, they price exported energy at the retail rate when the scheme actually credits the blended generation rate, and they have no way to model the larger commercial loads the change makes addressable. This guide covers what the Philippine stack has to do now.
Short version. The best solar software for a Philippine business in 2026 is a stack whose core prices export at the generation rate, sizes against the daytime load curve, and can handle commercial systems up to the new 1 MW ceiling. The cap change moved the opportunity into commercial and industrial work, and that segment needs modelling most residential-focused tools do not do.
This page covers the category as a whole. For the tool-by-tool comparisons see our best solar design software Philippines and best solar proposal software Philippines guides.
Model a commercial job under the new 1 MW ceiling
A SurgePV engineer takes one of your sites, sizes it against the facility's load curve with export priced at the generation rate, and produces the branded proposal from the same record.
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The Six Categories, And What The Cap Change Did To Them
| Category | What it does | Effect of the 1 MW change |
|---|---|---|
| Design and simulation | Layout, shading, yield, load matching | Must now handle commercial scale and hourly load profiles |
| Proposal and quoting | Generation-rate export, payback, approval timeline | Commercial buyers expect more rigour than residential |
| CRM and pipeline | Leads, follow-up, conversion | Longer commercial sales cycles need tracking |
| Compliance | PEC, anti-islanding, DC arc fault | Unchanged, but more scrutinised at scale |
| Project execution | DU application, LGU permit, CFEI, inspection | Timeline management matters more on larger jobs |
| Monitoring | Performance, service, warranty | Commercial clients expect it as standard |
What Is Genuinely Philippines-Specific
Export credits the generation rate, not retail. For Meralco customers this is roughly PHP 5 to 6 per kWh, about 50 to 60 percent of retail. The design consequence is the familiar one: a self-consumed kilowatt-hour is worth close to double an exported one, so systems should track the daytime load curve. A tool applying retail to exports overstates the return substantially, and on a commercial project that error is large in absolute terms.
The Philippine Electrical Code is based on NEC 2008. The NEC lineage is convenient because US-derived design logic is closer to applicable here than in most non-US markets. The version gap is the trap. A tool defaulting to NEC 2023 is not automatically PEC-compliant, and the requirements that matter, anti-islanding within 2 seconds and DC arc fault protection on longer runs, are exactly what gets checked.
Republic Act 9513 makes net metering a statutory right for on-grid renewable energy end-users. Worth stating in a commercial proposal, because it removes doubt about whether the utility can decline on discretion. The real constraints are procedural.
Defined approval timelines. Distribution utilities must approve or reject a complete application within 10 working days, with LGU permit and CFEI following within 3 working days of inspection. These belong in the proposal because a commercial buyer is planning around an energisation date.
Where Philippine Teams Overbuy And Underbuy
Underbought: hourly load matching. The capability the cap change made essential. Sizing a 500 kW commercial system without an hourly consumption profile is guessing, and the guess is expensive at that scale.
Underbought: generation-rate export modelling. Many tools apply a single tariff to all energy. That is roughly harmless on a small residential system and materially wrong on a commercial one.
Underbought: bankable yield reporting. Commercial buyers and their financiers ask for it, and residential-focused tools frequently do not produce it.
Overbought: residential-optimised platforms for commercial work. A tool that is excellent at rooftop layout and customer-facing design may have nothing to say about matching a manufacturing load curve.
Overbought: seats for viewers. Universal.
Price export at the generation rate, not retail
SurgePV splits generation into self-consumed and exported energy and prices each correctly, so a Philippine proposal shows the return the customer will actually see.
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The Platforms Philippine Businesses Should Evaluate
1. SurgePV, the integrated core
Design and proposals from one record, with generation-rate export modelling, hourly load matching for commercial sites, PEC-aware design against its NEC lineage, 8,760-hour module-level shading, battery dispatch and bankable yield reporting. White-label proposals with e-signature. $1,299 to $1,899 per user per year.
2. PVsyst
The bankable simulation reference, and increasingly relevant as the cap change brings financed commercial projects into scope. No proposal layer and no Philippine tariff logic. See our PVsyst alternative review.
3. HelioScope
Capable browser-based engineering for exactly the commercial rooftop segment the 1 MW ceiling opened. No proposal layer. Our HelioScope alternative guide covers the trade-offs.
4. Aurora Solar
Strong residential design built around US net metering, which credits at retail and therefore models the wrong mechanism here. See our Aurora Solar alternative comparison.
5. OpenSolar
Free and quick for residential layout with a presentable document. Light on commercial load matching and bankable reporting. See our OpenSolar alternative comparison.
6. Spreadsheets plus a yield tool
Common, and the usual home of a retail tariff applied to exported energy.
Philippines Solar Software Stack Comparison
| Capability | SurgePV | PVsyst | HelioScope | Aurora | OpenSolar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design and simulation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Proposal from design record | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Generation-rate export pricing | Yes | Manual | No | No | No |
| Hourly commercial load matching | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial | No |
| Handles systems to 1 MW | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| PEC-aware design | Yes | Manual | Partial | Partial | No |
| Bankable yield reporting | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | No |
| Battery dispatch modelling | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | Partial |
Worked Example: A 400 kW Commercial Rooftop Under The New Cap
An illustrative calculation, not a specific customer project. A manufacturing facility with strong daytime load, now able to install at a scale the old 100 kW ceiling prohibited.
| Line | Quoted at retail rate | Quoted correctly |
|---|---|---|
| Export valued at | Retail tariff | PHP 5 to 6 per kWh generation rate |
| Self-consumed energy valued at | Retail tariff | Retail tariff, correctly |
| Optimal system size implied | Larger, roof-filling | Matched to daytime load |
| Overstatement of return | Substantial on exported share | None |
| Does the buyer’s finance team accept it? | Unlikely under scrutiny | Yes |
The important line is the third. Pricing export at retail does not merely inflate the payback figure, it recommends a larger system than the site should have, because it makes surplus generation look as valuable as displaced consumption. The customer then buys capacity that earns roughly half what they were told.
At residential scale that error is embarrassing. On a 400 kW commercial project it is the sort of thing that ends a relationship, and commercial buyers in this segment have finance teams who will find it. The cap change is a genuine opportunity, and the businesses that capture it will be the ones whose numbers survive a procurement review.
Who Should Choose What
- Choose SurgePV if you are moving into the commercial segment the cap change opened and need generation-rate pricing with hourly load matching.
- Choose PVsyst where a lender or offtaker names it on financed commercial work, paired with separate quoting.
- Choose HelioScope if your team is engineering-only on commercial rooftops.
- Start with OpenSolar for straightforward residential volume while you build toward commercial work.
After signing, pipeline and follow-up sit in a CRM. QuickEstimate takes the handoff from SurgePV by API.
Built for the segment the cap change opened
Generation-rate export pricing, hourly commercial load matching, PEC-aware design, bankable yield reporting and white-label proposals from $1,299 per user per year.
Book a Free DemoThe Bottom Line
The Philippine opportunity got ten times larger in April 2026 and the tooling has not followed.
- Price export at the generation rate. Roughly PHP 5 to 6 per kWh for Meralco, about half of retail, and pricing it at retail recommends the wrong system size.
- Match generation to an hourly load curve. Essential at commercial scale, and the capability most residential tools lack.
- Produce bankable yield reporting. Commercial buyers and financiers ask for it and residential-focused tools generally do not.
Frequently Asked Questions
What changed for Philippine solar in April 2026?
How does Philippine net metering value exported energy?
What are the approval timelines and do they belong in software?
What does the Philippine Electrical Code require?
Is net metering a legal right in the Philippines?
How much should a Philippine solar business spend on software?
Which solar software should a Philippine installer start with?
Nirav Dhanani CEO, Qbits Energy
Co-founder & CEO driving Qbits Energy's product strategy and growth across India.