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Philippines became China’s second-largest solar export market amid 2026 energy emergency and regional rationing
Shipments topped 4,000 megawatts in four months as Southeast Asian governments responded to the Hormuz closure with rationing and rooftop solar installations. A fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire has reopened the strait but the shift toward renewables continues.
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The Philippines is now China's second-largest solar export market, with shipments topping 4,000 megawatts in the four months ending June 2026, OilPrice.com reported. The surge followed the closure of the Strait of Hormuz after the United States and Israel launched a military campaign against Iran on February 28, 2026. The Philippines declared a national energy emergency in March 2026.
Governments across Southeast Asia imposed energy rationing, work-from-home mandates and four-day work weeks after the strait closed. Rooftop solar installations rose in the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia and Malaysia. Before the war, roughly 20 million barrels of oil and oil products passed through the Strait of Hormuz each day, with 80 percent of the oil and 90 percent of the natural gas destined for Asian markets.
The United States and Iran reached a fragile ceasefire after nearly four months of fighting, and the strait has reopened. com reported. David Frykman, General Partner at Norrsken, stated that wind and solar cannot be embargoed, blockaded or shut off by a foreign power and that every terawatt-hour of domestic renewable generation is a terawatt-hour that no adversary can weaponize.
Fertilizer prices spiked in 2026 due to the Iran war and disruption to the Strait of Hormuz. India now has record rice stocks and is exporting heavily after lifting its 2023 export bans.
