MANILA ELECTRIC CO. (Meralco) is engaging with other foreign firms to explore small modular reactor (SMR) development after a feasibility study with a US company failed to progress, a company official said.
“UltraSafe has been facing some financial challenges, which is why our partnership did not progress,” Ronnie L. Aperocho, Meralco’s executive vice-president and chief operating officer, told reporters on Friday last week.
“We’re looking for partners for SMR. We are talking to many [companies],” he added.
Mr. Aperocho noted, however, that the company can only move forward with the passage of a nuclear law in the Philippines.
Under the Philippine nuclear energy roadmap, the country aims to have at least 1,200 megawatts (MW) of nuclear energy capacity by 2032, scaling up to 2,400 MW by 2040 and 4,800 MW by 2050.
By 2025, the necessary laws on the nuclear legal and regulatory framework are targeted to be in place.
In 2023, Meralco and UltraSafe Nuclear Corp. signed a cooperative agreement to study the potential deployment of one or more micro-modular reactors (MMRs) in the country.
The two companies conducted a feasibility study on MMR development for Meralco’s target commercial deployment, but it was not completed due to UltraSafe’s financial challenges.
Meanwhile, Mr. Aperocho said the company is exploring a partnership with Électricité de France SA (EDF), a multinational electric utility company owned by the French government, to assess the financial viability of developing a nuclear project.
The Meralco executive was present at the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between US-based integrated energy solutions firm Eōs Organization, Fullbright Philippines, and Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology.
“This MoU is very much aligned with our development strategy at Meralco, so we have been sending scholars already. Better that we have this local training program for our future nuclear engineers or technicians,” Mr. Aperocho said.
Under Meralco’s Filipino Scholars and Interns on Nuclear Engineering (FISSION) program, the company has sent scholars for nuclear engineering studies to the United States and China and plans to send scholars to Canada and France.
Upon their return to the Philippines, these scholars will be reintegrated into Meralco, taking on roles in its nuclear power generation unit.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
