World's largest solar-plus-storage farm begins feeding the Philippine grid
Built WorldMTerra 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
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Overview
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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People Involved
Organizations Involved
The generation subsidiary of Meralco, building the utility's own supply of solar and battery capacity.
The company that owns and runs the MTerra solar-plus-storage site across Nueva Ecija and Bulacan.
Timeline
November 2024 2027
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Full build-out targeted
Latest ProjectionThe complete 3,500-megawatt solar farm and 4,500-megawatt-hour battery are due online, enough for about 2.4 million households.
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Phase 1 grid testing scheduled to begin
ProjectionGrid 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.
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Phase 1 inaugurated, 600 MW flows to Meralco
MilestonePresident Marcos and Meralco chief Manuel Pangilinan inaugurate Phase 1, which begins delivering 600 megawatts of mid-merit power to the Manila grid.
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First grid connection
MilestoneMTerra achieves initial synchronization with the Luzon grid, months ahead of full commissioning.
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Groundbreaking in Nueva Ecija
MilestonePresident Marcos leads the groundbreaking for MTerra Solar in Peñaranda, framing it as an energy-security project.
Historical Context
2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.
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.
The park added cheap daytime power and pushed India's solar tariffs to record lows.
It became the benchmark other mega-projects measured themselves against, and showed that gigawatt-scale solar was buildable.
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.
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.
The site helped California absorb midday solar and release it into the evening peak.
It proved grid-scale batteries could firm up renewables, though a 2025 fire also exposed safety risks in packing cells densely.
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.
