Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will relaunch its plans to venture into the battery energy storage this year amid talks with US company Tesla Motors Inc.
Meralco SVP and head of customer retail services and corporate communications Alfredo Panlilio said Meralco will resume its track towards diversification.
“We’re quite delayed in that front. I think there are some projects that were identified but we haven’t started yet,” Panlilio said.
In 2012, Tesla began testing the use of batteries in industries like commercial retail, data center, education, and heavy manufacturing.
Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan previously said they will eventually enter the battery energy storage business when technology prices decrease.
Last year, Tesla officials came to the Philippines in search for local companies to partner with for the possibility of investing in the country’s battery storage space.
A partnership between the two companies will fall in line with Meralco’s venture into the electric vehicle (EV) and solar business.
“There are identified projects that they [Tesla] will come to take a look at with our strategy group,” Panlilio said.
