Mon Oct 31, 2011
* Power wholesaler ups coal plant utilisation rate to 80 pct
* President says does not give up on first nuclear plant
TOKYO Oct 31 (Reuters) - Electric Power Development Co (J-Power) expects to consume 22 million tonnes of thermal coal in the year ending in March, up 1 million tonnes from a year earlier in the wake of the nuclear disaster in March.
J-Power, Japan's wholesale power producer and biggest thermal coal user, revised up its coal-fired plant utilisation rate to 80 percent in 2011/12 from its April projection of 72 percent. The run rate compared with 78 percent in the year ended in March.
In the six months to September, J-Power, which operates 7 coal-fired plants with total capacity of 8,410 megawatts, used 10.45 million tonnes of coal.
J-Power also raised its electricity sale projection for the current year to March 2012 to 65.9 billion kilowatt-hours from its April outlook of 59.5 billion, helped by a fall in nuclear plant utilisation of its customer utilities to a record low amid public concerns over safety.
J-Power has indefinitely suspended construction work on the Ohma nuclear plant in northern Japan since March 12, a day after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated the northeast coastline, crippled the Fukushima nuclear station and resulted in a halt of supply of power and building materials for the Ohma plant's construction.
But the company's President Masayoshi Kitamura said he was not considering giving up the project to build the firm's first nuclear plant, even though it would take more time than previously planned.
PLAN TO BUILD FIRST NUCLEAR PLANT
The country's nuclear watchdog has given an approval to the project under the latest safety guidelines.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has said that nuclear power could play a role for decades with ensured safety in the wake of the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex in the northeast.
But it is not yet clear if the government's post-Fukushima energy policy, which is to be finalised next year, will allow the Ohma project to complete.
J-Power is preparing to tell local authorities in Aomori prefecture its intention to resume the construction work, but the time does not seem ripe yet, Kitamura said.
"It may take time, but we have to proceed with necessary steps one by one ... to get support from a majority of local communities," Kitamura told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference on its earnings.
J-Power has kept unchanged its outlook to start commercial operations of the 1,383 MW Ohma plant in November 2014. But Kitamura said that the schedule looks difficult to meet.
(sourced Reuters)
* Power wholesaler ups coal plant utilisation rate to 80 pct
* President says does not give up on first nuclear plant
TOKYO Oct 31 (Reuters) - Electric Power Development Co (J-Power) expects to consume 22 million tonnes of thermal coal in the year ending in March, up 1 million tonnes from a year earlier in the wake of the nuclear disaster in March.
J-Power, Japan's wholesale power producer and biggest thermal coal user, revised up its coal-fired plant utilisation rate to 80 percent in 2011/12 from its April projection of 72 percent. The run rate compared with 78 percent in the year ended in March.
In the six months to September, J-Power, which operates 7 coal-fired plants with total capacity of 8,410 megawatts, used 10.45 million tonnes of coal.
J-Power also raised its electricity sale projection for the current year to March 2012 to 65.9 billion kilowatt-hours from its April outlook of 59.5 billion, helped by a fall in nuclear plant utilisation of its customer utilities to a record low amid public concerns over safety.
J-Power has indefinitely suspended construction work on the Ohma nuclear plant in northern Japan since March 12, a day after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated the northeast coastline, crippled the Fukushima nuclear station and resulted in a halt of supply of power and building materials for the Ohma plant's construction.
But the company's President Masayoshi Kitamura said he was not considering giving up the project to build the firm's first nuclear plant, even though it would take more time than previously planned.
PLAN TO BUILD FIRST NUCLEAR PLANT
The country's nuclear watchdog has given an approval to the project under the latest safety guidelines.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has said that nuclear power could play a role for decades with ensured safety in the wake of the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex in the northeast.
But it is not yet clear if the government's post-Fukushima energy policy, which is to be finalised next year, will allow the Ohma project to complete.
J-Power is preparing to tell local authorities in Aomori prefecture its intention to resume the construction work, but the time does not seem ripe yet, Kitamura said.
"It may take time, but we have to proceed with necessary steps one by one ... to get support from a majority of local communities," Kitamura told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference on its earnings.
J-Power has kept unchanged its outlook to start commercial operations of the 1,383 MW Ohma plant in November 2014. But Kitamura said that the schedule looks difficult to meet.
(sourced Reuters)
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