The Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte signed a memorandum of agreement with ACEN Corporation, GCash, Solaric, and the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative on March 16, 2026, launching a solar rooftop program that offers households installment plans ranging from three to 15 years. Governor Cecilia Araneta-Marcos signed alongside representatives of the four partner organizations in Laoag City, formalizing a program that Vice Governor Matthew Marcos Manotoc said had been two years in the making.

The program's design addresses the most consistent barrier to household solar adoption in the Philippines: upfront cost. A 15-year installment option changes that calculus entirely for households that have the monthly cash flow but not the lump sum.

How the Program Works

The process runs through the five partners in sequence. Interested households coordinate with their local government unit in one of the three pilot areas — Laoag City, Pagudpud, or Dingras — to sign up. Solaric then conducts a roof inspection to assess installation feasibility. GCash determines loan eligibility. Once approved, Solaric installs the system and INEC connects it to the grid through net metering.

Net metering is the part that makes the economics work long-term. Households with solar installations can send excess electricity back to the grid, earning credits that reduce future electricity bills. For households consuming 4 kWh per day and above — the program's priority segment — the combination of reduced consumption costs and net metering credits can meaningfully offset the installment payments over time.

The three pilot areas were selected based on population concentration and institutional readiness. Laoag is the provincial capital. Pagudpud is home to the country's largest wind power farm and sits naturally within the province's renewable energy identity. Dingras hosts INEC's main branch, making grid integration more straightforward as the program scales.

The Partners and What Each Brings

The partnership structure is worth understanding because each player fills a specific gap. ACEN, the Ayala Group's energy platform, brings large-scale renewable energy experience — it already operates 365 megawatts of wind power across 99 turbines in the province. Solaric handles installation and technical assessment. GCash provides the financial infrastructure for loan processing and eligibility screening, leveraging its existing digital payments network to reach households that may not have formal bank relationships. INEC manages grid connectivity and net metering, which required its own institutional buy-in — INEC General Manager Cipriano Martinez III acknowledged the program may reduce the cooperative's energy sales but recognized it as the right direction for a province that has positioned itself as the country's renewable energy capital.

That acknowledgment from INEC is the most honest moment in the entire launch. An electric cooperative openly supporting a program that reduces its own revenue is a signal that the partnership is built on something more durable than short-term commercial interest.

What This Means for Northern Luzon

Ilocos Norte's solar rooftop program is the most structured household-level renewable energy initiative in Northern Luzon to date. The province has long led the country in wind energy at the utility scale — this program extends that identity down to the household level. For other Northern Luzon provinces watching, the model is instructive: a provincial government convening a private energy company, a fintech platform, a solar installer, and an electric cooperative under one agreement creates a complete pipeline from application to installation to grid connection that no single actor could deliver alone.

The program is still in pilot phase across three areas. Whether it scales depends on uptake in Laoag, Pagudpud, and Dingras — and on whether the 15-year installment structure proves financially viable for the households it targets. If it works, the template is replicable across every province in the region.

Homeowners in Laoag City, Pagudpud, and Dingras interested in the solar rooftop program can coordinate with their respective local government units to sign up. For other Northern Luzon provinces and municipalities looking to develop similar programs, Ilocos Norte's five-way partnership model is the current benchmark in the region.

Source: Inquirer.net | Matthew Marcos Manotoc