In order to realize a decarbonized society, a large-scale demonstration experiment will be conducted at a power plant in Hekinan City, Aichi Prefecture, to generate electricity by mixing ammonia, which does not emit carbon dioxide when burned, with part of the fuel for coal-fired power generation. The power generation facility was opened to the press on the 13th.
The demonstration experiment will be carried out at Unit 4 of the Hekinan Thermal Power Plant, which is operated by JERA, a power generation company invested by Tokyo Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power. On the 13th, the boiler and tanks for storing ammonia were unveiled to the public. I did.
In order to decarbonize thermal power generation, JERA aims to put into practical use around 2027 to 2028, equipment that generates electricity by mixing ammonia, which does not emit carbon dioxide even when burned, as part of the fuel. .
In this experiment, we modified a 1,000,000 kilowatt class coal-fired power generation facility to make 20% of the fuel into ammonia to check whether it can burn stably and whether it can suppress the emission of harmful nitrogen oxides. We plan to start as early as March 26th.
In the future, the company will conduct experiments to increase the proportion of ammonia to more than 50%, and aims to commercialize technology to generate electricity using ammonia alone in the 2040s.
Katsuya Tanigawa, director of JERA's Hekinan Thermal Power Plant, said, ``Ultimately, by converting all fuel to ammonia, we would like to establish technology that will enable us to promote ``zero-emission thermal power'' that does not emit carbon dioxide around the world or in Japan.'' I was talking.