SPECIAL REPORT | PHILIPPINES NUCLEAR MARKET


Philippine reactor market to 2040


The Philippines is looking at developing substantially more nuclear capacity in a bid to curb rising energy costs and reduce carbon emissions. But how many and what type of reactors will ultimately emerge?


By Joseph Somsel, BSNE, MBA


THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINES is preparing the legislative groundwork for a probable nuclear future. With electricity prices approaching those found in California, it finds itself at a competitive disadvantage to its ASEAN neighbors in capturing businesses leaving China. The non- nuclear options appear to do little to remedy that economic handicap leaving the global nuclear power industry with the questions – how many, when, and what size?


The grids The Philippines Archipelago has 7,000 islands, about 1,000 of them inhabited, and stretches over 1,000 miles north to south with over 140 million inhabitants. Given this dispersion, one could say they have 139 separate electrical


grids but it is more useful to think of three major, loosely connected main grids with 136 separate micro-grids for those islands or locations too expensive or difficult to connect to the major grids. First, the three major grids. The largest by far is the main island of Luzon at the north end where the capital city of Manila is located with 70% of the nation’s economic activity. The second grid covers the smaller middle islands, the Visayas, while the most southern of the three is the large southern island of Mindanao, still relatively undeveloped and long considered a “frontier” by Filipinos. It has no current power connection to the other two grids. This fact limits the application of conventional large light water reactors (LWRs.)


SANCHEZ MIRA 230Kv


(100 MW)


SAN ESTEBAN 230Kv


(300 MW) (300 MW)


KADAMPAT 230Kv


(300 MW) (100 MW)


Right, figure 1: Recommended generator connection points under NGCP plans


(1,200 MW)


CASTILLEJOS 230Kv


(600 MW) (200 MW) (1,000 MW)


LUMBAN 230Kv


(300 MW)


TAGKAWAYAN 230Kv


(1,200 MW) 2023-2030 2031-2040


BARAS 500Kv


PORAC 230Kv


PALAUIG 230Kv


CAPAS 230Kv


SAGADA 230Kv


(100 MW)


KABUGAO 230Kv


(500 MW) (500 MW)


SANTIAGO 230Kv


(300 MW)


DINADIAWAN 230Kv


(200 MW) (200 MW)


CABANATUAN 230Kv


(100 MW)


SAN ANTONIO 230Kv


(600 MW)


PERCENTACION 230Kv


(300 MW)


IRIGA 230Kv


(100 MW)


ABUYOG 230Kv


(100 MW)


BALER 230Kv


KALINGA 230Kv


PUDTOL 230Kv


26 | October 2023 | www.neimagazine.com


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