MANILA ELECTRIC CO. (Meralco) will send a delegation to South Korea next month to further explore partnerships in power distribution and generation, a company official said.
“We will talk to the Korean players, not only on the distribution side of the business, but even in generation, including nuclear,” Meralco Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer Ronnie L. Aperocho told reporters last week.
Mr. Aperocho said Meralco will engage in a nuclear study tour and distribution modernization discussions with Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), South Korea’s largest electric utility company responsible for power generation, transmission, and distribution.
During the visit, the local distributor will also tour energy storage manufacturing facilities.
The visit builds on Meralco’s earlier memorandum of understanding with KEPCO to foster technical cooperation and exchange programs in new energy technologies, including nuclear energy, renewable energy, and smart grids.
However, Emmanuel V. Rubio, president and chief executive officer of Meralco PowerGen Corp., said policies and programs on nuclear energy should be established first to advance their initiatives.
“I really would like the government to first develop policies and programs, because regardless of how much we talk about nuclear, unless the government establishes the framework, the rules, the guidelines, and the timetable, they have to be part of that discussion,” he said.
Under the Philippine nuclear energy roadmap, the government targets 1,200 megawatts (MW) of nuclear capacity by 2032, scaling up to 2,400 MW by 2040 and 4,800 MW by 2050.
The nuclear legal and regulatory framework is expected to be in place by 2025.
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