Kyushu Electric Power Sees Capacity Reserve Margin Above 14% With Restart of NPPs

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On April 8, the Kyushu Electric Power Co. announced that its capacity reserve margin this summer is expected to be 14.1–26.4% and that this will ensure stable supplies of electricity without power interchanges with other power companies. The company attributes this to increased supply as a result of restarting its Sendai-1 and -2 Nuclear Power Plants in Sendai City, Kagoshima Prefecture.

The company foresees power demand of 14.69–15.64GW. The range is based on alternative assumptions of normal summer temperatures or temperatures as high as in 2010. As a result, it will ensure power supplies of 18.57GW in July and 17.85GW in August. Together with the Sendai units, the LNG combined cycle power plant in Oita City, Oita Prefecture, which is expected to start operation this July, will contribute to the stability of that supply.

After the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPPs in March 2011, Kyushu Electric Power shut down all of its NPPs. Summer power supplies have been a virtual “tightrope walk” since then, with capacity reserve margins of a mere 3%, the minimum level for stable power supply, based on power interchanges with other companies.