Thermal power plants have been suspended or abolished one after another among Japanese electric power companies.
In order to maintain a stable supply of electricity, the government will make a cabinet decision on the 1st to amend a bill that requires notification in advance when electric power companies abolish thermal power plants.
Thermal power plants nationwide are aging and the operating rate has dropped due to the expansion of the introduction of renewable energy such as solar power generation, so they are being suspended or abolished one after another.
When the demand for electric power increases due to the severe cold and the amount of power generation such as solar power decreases in the dark, the stable supply of electric power is jeopardized many times.
In January, in order to secure the amount of power supply within the jurisdiction of TEPCO, we hurriedly took measures to restart the thermal power plant in Chiba prefecture, which had been shut down due to aging.
Thermal power generation is expected to be suspended or abolished in the future.
For this reason, in order to maintain a stable supply of electric power, the government has decided on the 1st to make a cabinet decision on an amendment bill that requires notification in advance when electric power companies abolish thermal power plants.
The aim is to make it easier for countries and other countries to predict the amount of electricity supplied nationwide.
If it is expected that there will be a shortage of electricity, the government will cover the cost of restarting by requesting the operator to temporarily cancel the abolition.
Aged thermal power generation restarted due to power shortage
Anegasaki Thermal Power Station in Chiba Prefecture that sends electricity to the TEPCO jurisdiction.
It is operated by JERA, a thermal power generation company established by TEPCO and Chubu Electric Power.
Unit 5 of the power plant has been in operation for about 44 years and has been shut down since April last year due to aging.
This winter, it was predicted that there would be a shortage of electricity within the jurisdiction of TEPCO, so in January, we hurriedly restarted the operation in response to a public offering by the government.
At the power plant, about 40 pipes connecting to the turbine and boiler were rusted, cracked or peeled off, so all of them were repaired. I took the correspondence.
According to JERA, the Anegasaki Thermal Power Station has old equipment and has the highest power generation cost in the company, but it has been forced to restart for stable supply.
Hiroshi Kamei, director of the Anegasaki Thermal Power Station, said, "If the necessary parts were broken, there was a possibility that stable supply would be hindered, but I am relieved to be able to operate safely. The cost is high due to the liberalization of electricity. Normally, a high power supply would have to be stopped, but on the contrary, if you continue to operate, the electricity bill will increase, which is annoying. "