Meralco wrapping up feasibility study on micro modular reactor

By Jenniffer B. Austria – May 28, 2024, 8:50 pm
from manilastandard.net

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), in partnership with US-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC), plans to build 5 to 10-megawatt micro modular reactor facility as part of its plan to venture into nuclear energy.

Meralco executive vice president and chief operating officer Ronnie Aperocho said during the company’s annual stockholders meeting they are now “wrapping up” the feasibility study for the development of micro modular reactor as proof-of-concept.

“So as we dive deep into the safety, financial and site selection parameters, our goal is to build a capacity of five to 10-megawatts and have some sort of proof of concept that will help us convince Filipino people that nuclear energy is safe, reliable, cheap and clean source of base load power,” Aperocho said.

Meralco launched in October 2023 the nuclear education program that embraces nominees from the government, Meralco engineers and third-party engineers who could be educated abroad.

Meralco chairman and chief executive Manuel Pangilinan reiterated during the stockholders meeting the company’s target to register P40-billion core net income for 2024, up from P37 billion last year.

Pangilinan said despite the positive growth prospects particularly on its generation and distribution business, the company’s share price remained undervalued. From its record high of over P400 per share in 2019, its stock price is now trading below P370 apiece.

He said while the decline in Meralco’s share price could be partly due to the downturn in the local equities market, there is a need to communicate to investors about the prospects of the company.

“If people would just recognize what the prospects are for Meralco as a group. But part of it is structural point on the Philippine Stock Exchange itself and on the companies that are part of the exchange,” Pangilinan said.

“And part of it is our duty to our investors and to the investment community in general. We have a job to do in terms of communicating to the investors the prospects of Meralco,” he said.

Meralco chief revenue officer Ferdinand Geluz also reported that energy consumption during this summer season increased versus last year’s level.