Lopez Group not counting out nuclear energy

MANILA, Philippines - The patriach of the Lopez group is not discounting the possibility of considering nuclear energy as part of their generation portfolio.

“It’s not an impossibility,” Oscar Lopez said when asked if First Gen Corp., the group’s power generation unit, would be considering an entry into nuclear power development.

Lopez said the group has been gearing towards cleaner sources of power thus making nuclear one of its options for power generation. “I guess that would still be clean, as long as it is clean energy,” he said.

It would be recalled that San Miguel Corp. (SMC) had already signified interest to invest in nuclear power generation.

There were other investors that have indicated their willingness to enter into nuclear development in the Philippines.

Among these are Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco), Kansai Electric, Toshiba Corp. and Tokyo Electric Power Corp.

Most likely, these power firms would be building new nuclear facilities as the government already ruled out the possibility of reviving the 620-megawatt (MW) Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

Under the DOE energy plan, the country could start up its first 600-megawatt (MW) nuclear power plant by 2025.

The DOE noted that the new nuclear power facility is expected to contribute 0.885 million ton oil equivalent (MTOE) to the projected energy mix and reach up to 3.54 MTOE by 2035.

This means that the government had already inputted in its energy plan the power that could be generated from nuclear energy.

The DOE said it expects additional nuclear capacities of 600 MW to be in place by 2027, 2030 and 2034. With this, the total capacity from nuclear under PEP 1998-2035 was projected to reach 2,400 MW by the end of the planning period.

The Philippine government had spent about $2.1 billion for the construction of the BNPP and is setting aside up to now some P40 million a year for its maintenance.

It was not known if the rehabilitation of BNPP will be undertaken by the government or by the private sector. It was estimated that the rehabilitation of BNPP could cost more than $800 million to $1 billion.