Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to restart five decommissioned thermal power generators to help cover an energy shortfall after shutting the world's biggest nuclear plant following an earthquake.
Asia's biggest electricity producer will restart the plants by next summer, spokesman Manabu Takeyama said by phone in Tokyo. The company started operating two previously mothballed thermal power units in July.
Tokyo Electric's fuel costs will likely rise as the company restarts the plants. Crude oil reached a record $78.77 a barrel in New York on Aug. 1. The utility cut its profit forecast 79 percent for the year ending March as expenditure on oil, gas and coal climbed after the closing of the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant on July 16.
Tokyo Electric “needs to burn more liquefied natural gas and oil in the next fiscal year,'' Hirofumi Kawachi, an energy analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. in Tokyo, said today. “The company's fuel use will probably rise by about 30 percent to 40 percent next fiscal year.''
The utility plans to restart the Goi No. 4 gas-fired plant, with a capacity of 265 megawatts, in December, Yoshinori Mori, a separate company spokesman, said by phone. It will restart the Yokosuka No. 2 oil-fired plant this month.
Next Summer
The Kashima No. 2 thermal plant and the Yokosuka No. 7 and No. 8 oil-fired units will begin operating before next summer, Takeyama said. Japan's power demand typically peaks in August when the use of air-conditioners rises during the summer.
The Kashiwazaki Kariwa power station in Niigata Prefecture was shut after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake last month sparked a fire and caused radiation leaks. Regulators ordered Tokyo Electric to keep the facility closed until safety is assured. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake's magnitude was 6.6.
Tokyo Electric may have to keep the plant closed for the whole of the fiscal year ending March 2009, Kawachi said.
The nuclear power station has seven reactors with a total generating capacity of 8,212 megawatts, making it the world's biggest in terms of capacity.
Tokyo Electric on Aug. 22 asked 23 factories to cut electricity consumption to avert outage, the first time in 17 years the utility has invoked a clause in contracts to trim power use when the company faces supply shortage.
The following is a table on the restart schedule for the thermal power plants.
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UNIT MW TIMING Source
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Joban Nakoso No. 6 175,000 July, 2007 Fuel Oil
Goi No. 2 265,000 July, 2007 LNG
Yokosuka No. 2 144,000 Sept. 2007 Oil, Fuel
Goi No. 4 265,000 Dec. 2007 LNG
Yokosuka No. 7 350,000 May, 2008 Oil, Fuel
Kashima Kyodo No. 2 350,000 May, 2008 Fuel
Yokosuka No. 8 350,000 June, 2008 Oil, Fuel
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