The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) is urging the government to pursue a nationwide energy grid linking the country’s major islands, saying the decades-long project could lower electricity costs, strengthen energy security, and unlock more balanced economic growth across the archipelago.
Speaking at the PCCI General Membership Meeting on Wednesday, PCCI President Ferdinand Ferrer said the business group has begun discussions with the Department of Energy (DOE) on a five-year roadmap to establish what it calls the Philippine energy grid, a long-term project that would link Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao through submarine and underground transmission cables.
“The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, and that’s one of the reasons economic development has been uneven,” Ferrer said. “What we’re working on with the DOE is to create a Philippine energy grid.”
The proposal aims to connect areas rich in renewable energy resources, including wind, solar, and geothermal, allowing surplus electricity to flow to regions where demand is highest. Such an interconnected system could reduce dependence on isolated grids, improve supply reliability, and support greater investments in renewable energy by expanding the market those projects can serve.
For businesses, the proposal addresses a longstanding structural challenge. The country’s fragmented geography has contributed to uneven electricity supply and some of Southeast Asia’s highest power prices, making energy costs a persistent concern for manufacturers and investors.
Ferrer acknowledged the scale of the undertaking, estimating the project would take 10 to 20 years to complete, but said preparations should begin now rather than wait for future demand to outpace infrastructure.
He added that the DOE’s planned expansion of renewable energy capacity, including an additional 100 megawatts, would further boost supply and help ease electricity prices over time.
To complement the physical network, Ferrer also proposed adopting smart transmission cables embedded with monitoring chips that can identify technical losses across generation, transmission, and distribution systems, enabling utilities to pinpoint inefficiencies, reduce waste, and improve the overall performance of the country’s future integrated grid.
