Power retailer Manila Electric Co. is set to receive a grant from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency for a feasibility study on small nuclear reactors, a top executive said Thursday.
Meralco, the country’s biggest distributor, is pursuing nuclear power generation to support the government’s clean energy agenda and energy security goals.
“We will be receiving a grant from USTDA, around $2.7 million to help us in our study on the adoption of small modular reactor in the Philippines,” Meralco chief operating officer Ronnie Aperocho said on the sidelines of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines’ 8th Annual Energy Forum at the Marriott Hotel in Pasay City.
“This will be formalized via a signing ceremony very soon,” he said.
He said discussions are ongoing with other companies after a cooperative agreement with Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. to study the potential deployment of its Micro-Modular Reactor failed to materialize.
“The discussion on MMR is still ongoing but this time bringing in new partners and slightly—the same technology. We’re using molten salt but we are yet to discuss with them what the details are,” Aperocho said.
Aperocho believes Meralco was able to secure the grant because they are “very aggressive and we really walk the talk.”
“Even without the law, we already signed a lot of potential partnerships and we even sent scholars,” he said.
Meralco launched FISSION in 2023, a scholarship and training program for Filipino nuclear engineers, and has sent scholars to the United States and China.
Aperocho said that while small modular reactors have a capacity of 300 to 500 megawatts, the company remains open to conventional power plants with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts.
“We are still open to conventional. In fact, Bataan is technically feasible. We’re willing to do it also but Bataan is about 600 MW plus,” Aperocho said.
Meralco started the groundwork for integrating nuclear energy into the country’s energy mix in 2024.
Through its Nuclear Energy Strategic Transition program, or NEST, Meralco supports the government’s goal to develop the country’s nuclear capacity for long-term energy security.
In pursuit of the Philippine Energy Plan 2023-2050, the Philippines aims to have a nuclear capacity of at least 1,200 megawatts by 2032, doubling it to 2,400 megawatts by 2035 and to 4,800 megawatts by 2050.
