As data centers continue to grow in the Philippines, a renewable energy player emphasized the need for a coordinated approach to meet the sector’s power demand while preventing a spike in electricity costs for household consumers.
During the Executive Roundtable Summit 2025 of the Data Center Association of the Philippines (DCAP) in Makati City recently, First Gen Energy Solutions, Inc. president and chief operating officer Carlos Lorenzo Vega said government needs to coordinate the formulation of a comprehensive plan on power and data centers.
“There has to be a specific plan to serve data centers because their load is not like the growth we experience in other sectors. Our grid grows by 500 megawatts every year, and they are talking about 1 gigawatt growth, so it’s like double the usual overall growth,” Vega told media.
“If they were to address and support that growth, it has to be specific, like power plants being developed specifically for data center growth,” he added. DCAP targets a1GW information technology load capacity for the Philippines by 2029, positioning the Philippines as an emerging data center hub for the region.
DCAP chairperson and co-founder Steven Davis said this capacity would require an investment of USD18 billion. The call for a government-led plan is critical as the country looks to attract international investors in the data center industry, particularly those requiring large-scale and uninterrupted power.
In the same event, Global AI Council Philippines co-founder Antonilo Mauricio raised the concern of data centers competing with households and other consumers for power resources, which could lead to higher electricity prices across the board.
Mauricio said supporting data center growth must consider the broader energy system, as it is difficult to push AI development when many parts of the country still lack electricity. (With PNA)