Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is pressing forward with its nuclear initiatives and has enlisted the services of US firm Ultra Safe Nuclear for a preliminary feasibility study that will take about three months.
“Meralco, through Meralco Academy and as a company itself is indeed in favor of exploring nuclear power. one of the agenda items presented to us is the proposal to conduct a feasibility study in the next two months or so,” Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan said.
Pangilinan said the study will look into the safety of nuclear plants, cost of power, energy security, viability of location, among others.
He said nuclear, specifically micro modular reactors could serve the needs of hyperscalers and data centers and desalination plants.
“It’s between 5-15 megawatts so if you want a big plant like 150 [megawatts], you need several reactors. That’s really meant for island provinces or island cities, data centers for desalination,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pangilinan said another Meralco project in the drawing board is a 2,500 MW peak solar plant that will have an output of 850 MW, with battery storage systems.
“It is a big solar plant that is able to deliver a substantial amount of our capacity in the next two to three years,” he said.
