The University of the Philippines (UP) is rolling out a “net zero” energy program that aims to power its campuses through rooftop solar installations, backed by a P3.8-billion budget approved by its Board of Regents over a 10-year period.
Speaking at the first UP Innovation Summit “Inoblasyon” held at SMX Aura in Taguig City, UP College of Engineering associate dean Ronwaldo Del Mundo said the initiative seeks to reduce the university’s dependence on traditional power plants by turning building rooftops into solar generation sites.
“In the future, even if the price of oil will go up, UP would no longer be affected as it will be generating its own electricity,” he said.
Under the plan, solar panels will be installed on most buildings in UP Diliman and eventually across all campuses nationwide, allowing the university to produce its own electricity.
“All UP campuses will have a supply of electricity. We won’t be dependent on power plants anymore. All UP rooftops will have power plants,” Del Mundo said.
Initial estimates show that UP Diliman alone could host up to 28 megawatts of solar capacity using available rooftop space, with potential to reach 40 megawatts if more areas are utilized. However, land constraints in the urban campus limit large-scale ground installations, prompting the shift to rooftop-based systems.
To implement the project, UP plans to aggregate electricity demand across buildings and combine it with distributed solar generation, effectively creating a “virtual power plant.” The approach takes advantage of provisions under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) that allow power aggregation of retail customers.
The retail aggregation program under EPIRA enables smaller businesses and entities to combine their electricity demand, select their preferred renewable energy supplier, and sell their output to the grid.
“We will aggregate the PV production in the buildings. That’s an innovation that we will introduce,” Del Mundo said.
The project will be funded through private investment, with developers building solar facilities on UP rooftops and supplying electricity to the university at a lower cost, minimizing the need for upfront capital spending.
Del Mundo said the initiative is also drawing interest beyond UP. He noted that the chair of the Commission on Higher Education, who also sits as a member of the UP Board of Regents, has expressed intent to replicate the model across state universities and colleges (SUCs).
UP officials are studying how the model can be scaled nationwide, including possible adoption by other SUCs and even residential communities through demand aggregation.
Del Mundo said the initiative is also aimed at improving energy resilience for the university’s operations, which include laboratories, data centers, and equipment that require stable power supply.
