Japanese Power Utilities Boast Lower CO2 Emissions in Fiscal 2015, Partially Due to Nuclear Restarts

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On September 12, the Electric Power Council for a Low Carbon Society (ELCS), comprising Japan's major electric power utilities and power producers and suppliers (PPSs), announced that CO2 emissions by its members in fiscal 2015 (April 2015 to March 2016) were 441 million t-CO2, and that the emissions factor was 0.530kg-CO2/kWh. Both figures fell slightly below the previous year's figures, which were 469 million t-CO2 and 0.552 kg-CO2/KWh, respectively.

ELCS—a voluntary framework formed in February 2016 by the ten members of the Federation of Electric Power Companies (FEPC), along with the Electric Power Development Co. (EPDC, or J-Power), the Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC) and a number of PPSs—drew up a preliminary report on CO2 emissions based on information from 39 of its 42 members that had operated during FY15.

Major factors in the reduction, according to the report, include increased electricity generation using renewable energy, the restart of several nuclear power plants (NPPs), and efficiency improvements through the introduction of high-performance thermal power plants.

In July 2015, three months after the Japanese government announced its desired “energy mix” (composition of power sources), ELCS issued its “Action Plan for the Electricity Business for Achieving a Low-Carbon Society,” setting a target for CO2 emissions reductions by FY30. All members, via adherence to the PDCA cycle, are striving to improve the effectiveness of their activities.

Under the plan, they will endeavor to reduce end-user emissions intensity to approximately 0.37kg-CO2/kWh by FY30, and to utilize the best available technology (BAT) affordable in new thermal power plants so as to secure the maximum reduction potential of approximately 11 million t-CO2.

In promoting the action plan, ELCS described various activities on the domestic supplier side, such as the use of nuclear power (with priority on safety), the use of renewable energies, and improvements to thermal power efficiency.

In the wake of the giant March 2011 earthquake, the country’s NPPs were gradually shut down, with none operating at all in FY14 (April 2014 to March 2015). In the following fiscal year, however, three units—the Sendai 1- and -2 of the Kyushu Electric Power Co., and the Takahama-3 of the Kansai Electric Power Co. (Kansai EP)—resumed operations after clearing safety examinations by the Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan (NRA) under the country’s new regulatory standards.

According to FEPC, the operation of one 1,000-MW-class NPP is estimated to reduce the amount of CO2 emissions by about 3.1 million t-CO2 per year in comparison with the average for all power sources. Japan’s thermal power efficiency has consistently remained among the best in the world as a result of introducing high-performance facilities and appropriate operational management and maintenance.