The Tokyo Electric Power Company
Encyclopedia
Electric utility
An electric utility is a company that engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a major provider of energy in most countries. It is indispensable to factories, commercial establishments,...
servicing Japan's Kantō region
Kanto region
The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain....
, Yamanashi Prefecture
Yamanashi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Kōfu.-Pre-history to the 14th century:People have been living in the Yamanashi area for about 30,000 years...
, and the eastern portion of Shizuoka Prefecture
Shizuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Shizuoka.- History :Shizuoka prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces.The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun...
. This area includes Tokyo. Its headquarters are located in Uchisaiwaicho
Uchisaiwaicho
is a railway station on the Toei Mita Line in Uchisaiwaichō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Its station number is I-07.-External links:...
, Chiyoda, Tokyo
Chiyoda, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards in central Tokyo, Japan. In English, it is called Chiyoda ward. As of October 2007, the ward has an estimated population of 45,543 and a population density of 3,912 people per km², making it by far the least populated of the special wards...
, and international branch offices exist in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
In 2007 Tepco was forced to shut the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant
The is a large, modern nuclear power plant on a 4.2-square-kilometer site including land in the towns of Kashiwazaki and Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture, Japan on the coast of the Sea of Japan, from where it gets cooling water...
after the Niigata-Chuetsu-Oki Earthquake. That year it posted its first loss in 28 years. Corporate losses continued until the plant reopened in 2009. Following the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
, its power plant at Fukushima Daiichi was the site of a continuing nuclear disaster, one of the world's most serious. TEPCO could face ¥ ($) in special losses in the current business year to March 2012, and Japan plans to put TEPCO under effective state control as a guarantee for compensation payments to people affected by radiation. The Fukushima disaster displaced 50,000 households in the evacuation zone because of radiation leaks into the air, soil and sea.
History
Japan's ten regional electric companies, including TEPCO, were established in 1951 with the end of the state-run electric industry regime for national wartime mobilization.In the 1950s, the company's primary goal was to facilitate a rapid recovery from the infrastructure devastation of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After the recovery period, the company had to expand its supply capacity to catch up with the country's rapid economic growth by developing fossil fuel power plants and a more efficient transmission network.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the company faced the challenges of increased environmental pollution and oil shocks. TEPCO began addressing environmental concerns through expansion of its LNG fueled power plant network as well as greater reliance on a 'deal with the devil'http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LREJDG07SXKX01-3FGUG54K3LUQR1HTSB5FET3A69- nuclear generation. The first nuclear unit at the Fukushima Dai-ichi (Fukushima I) nuclear power plant began operational generation on March 26, 1970.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the widespread use of air-conditioners and IT/OA appliances resulted a gap between day and night electricity demand. In order to reduce surplus generation capacity and increase capacity utilization, TEPCO developed pumped storage hydroelectric power plants and promoted thermal storage units.
Recently, TEPCO is expected to play a key role in achieving Japan's targets for reduced carbon dioxide emissions under the Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
. It also faces difficulties related to the trend towards deregulation in Japan's electric industry as well as low power demand growth. In light of these circumstances, TEPCO launched an extensive sales promotion campaign called 'Switch!', promoting all-electric housing in order to both achieve the more efficient use of its generation capacity as well as erode the market share of gas companies.
Corporate overview
- Capital stock: ¥676,424,197,050
- Total outstanding shares: 1,352,876,531
- Number of shareholders: 821,841
- Electricity sales (FY 2004): 92,592 million kWh (lighting), 194,148 million kWh (power), 286,741 million kWh (total)
- Peak demand: 64.3 million kW (July 24, 2001)
- Number of customers (ending March 31, 2005): 25,120,000 / 83.89 million kW (lighting), 2,630,000 thousand / 39.75 million kWh (power), 27,740,000 / 123.64 million kW (total)
- Revenue from electricity sales: ¥4,637.2 billion yen (FY 2004)
Executive compensation
The Washington Post reported, that compared to American and European chief executives, Tepco chief, "Shimizu earns a pittance. Tepco won’t give his salary, but total remuneration for the president and 20 other directors came to $8.9 million in fiscal 2009, the last period for which figures are available," an average of $445,000.Community compensation
Tokyo Electric Power could face 2 trillion yen ($23.6 bln) in special losses in the current business year to March 2012 to compensate communities near its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, according to JP Morgan.Japan plans to put TEPCO under effective state control so it can meet its compensation payments to people affected by radiation leaking from its Fukushima I plant. Tokyo will set aside several trillion yen in public funds that TEPCO can "dip into if it runs short for payouts to people affected".
Salary pay cuts
The company workers agreed to a management proposal to cut their pay as a sense of responsibility for the world's worst nuclear disaster since ChernobylChernobyl
Chernobyl or Chornobyl is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, in Kiev Oblast, near the border with Belarus. The city had been the administrative centre of the Chernobyl Raion since 1932....
. Annual remuneration for board members will be reduced by 50 percent since April 2011, while payment for managers will be cut by 25 percent and workers by 20 percent both since July 2011 and bonuses since June 2011. The company expects to save about 54 billion yen ($659 million) a year from the pay cuts.
Power stations and generation capacity
- Hydro: 160 / 8.521 million kW
- Thermal (oil, coal, LN(P)G, geothermal): 26 / 36.995 million kW
- Nuclear: 3 / 17.308 million kW
- Wind: 1 / 0.001 million kW
- Total: 190 / 62.825 million kW
Position in the industry
TEPCO is the largest electric utility in Japan and the 4th largest electric utility in the world after German RWERWE
RWE AG , is a German electric power and natural gas public utility company based in Essen. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company contributes electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe...
, French Électricité de France
Électricité de France
Électricité de France S.A. is the second largest French utility company. Headquartered in Paris, France, with €65.2 billion in revenues in 2010, EDF operates a diverse portfolio of 120,000+ megawatts of generation capacity in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.EDF is one of...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
's E.ON
E.ON
E.ON AG, marketed with an interpunct as E•ON, is the holding company of the world's largest investor-owned energy service provider based in Düsseldorf, Germany. The name comes from the Greek word aeon which means eternity....
. As TEPCO stands in a leading position in this industry, they have relatively a strong effect for Japanese economics, environment, and energy industry.
Generation
The company's power generation consists of two main networks. Fossil fuelFossil fuel
Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...
power plants around Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
are used for peak load supply and nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
s in Fukushima
Fukushima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region on the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Fukushima.-History:Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Fukushima prefecture was known as Mutsu Province....
and Niigata Prefecture
Niigata Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Honshū on the coast of the Sea of Japan. The capital is the city of Niigata. The name "Niigata" literally means "new lagoon".- History :...
provide base load supply. Additionally, hydroelectric plants in the mountainous areas outside the Kanto Plain
Kanto Plain
The ' is the largest plain in Japan located in the Kanto Region of central Honshū. The total area 17,000 sq km covers more than half of the Region extending over Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, and Tochigi Prefecture.The northern limit borders on...
, despite their relatively small capacity compared to fossil fuel and nuclear generation, remain important in providing peak load supply. The company also purchases electricity from other regional or wholesale electric power companies like Tohoku Electric Power Company
Tohoku Electric Power Company
is electric utility, servicing 7.6 million individual & corporate customers in 6 prefectures in Tōhoku region plus Niigata Prefecture. It provides electricity at 100 V, 50 Hz, though some area use 60 Hz....
, J-POWER, and Japan Atomic Power Company
Japan Atomic Power Company
The is a company initially formed to jump start the commercial use of nuclear power in Japan, and currently operates two different sites. According to the official web site, JAPC is "the only power company in Japan solely engaged in nuclear energy"....
.
Transmission and distribution
The company has built a radiated and circular grid between power plants and urban/industrial demand areas. Each transmission line is designed to transmit electricity at high-voltage (66-500kV) between power plants and substations. Normally transmission lines are strung between towers, but within the Tokyo metropolitan area high-voltage lines are located underground.From substations, electricity is transmitted via the distribution grid at low-voltage (22-6kV). For high-voltage supply to large buildings and factories, distribution lines are directly connected to customers' electricity systems. In this case, customers must purchase and set up transformers and other equipment to run electric appliances. For low voltage supply to houses and small shops, distribution lines are first connected to the company's transformers (seen on utility poles and utility boxes), converted to 100/200V, and finally connected to end users.
Under normal conditions, TEPCO's transmission and distribution infrastructure is notable as one of the most reliable electricity networks in the world. Blackout frequency and average recovery time compares favorably with other electric companies in Japan as well as within other developed countries. The company instituted its first-ever rolling blackouts following the shutdown of the Fukushima I and II plants which were close to the epicenter of the March 2011 earthquake. For example on the morning of Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 700,000 households had no power for three hours. The company had to deal with a 10 million kW gap between demand and production on March 14, 2011.
Safety inspections
On August 29, 2002, the government of JapanGovernment of Japan
The government of Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the 1947 constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people". Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected...
revealed that TEPCO was guilty of false reporting in routine governmental inspection of its nuclear plants and systematic concealment of plant safety incidents. All seventeen of its boiling-water reactors were shut down for inspection as a result. TEPCO's chairman Hiroshi Araki, President Nobuya Minami, Vice-President Toshiaki Enomoto, as well as the advisers Shō Nasu and Gaishi Hiraiwa stepped-down by September 30, 2002. The utility "eventually admitted to two hundred occasions over more than two decades between 1977 and 2002, involving the submission of false technical data to authorities". Upon taking over leadership responsibilities, TEPCO's new president issued a public commitment that the company would take all the countermeasures necessary to prevent fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
and restore the nation's confidence. By the end of 2005, generation at suspended plants had been restarted, with government approval.
In 2007, however, the company announced to the public that an internal investigation had revealed a large number of unreported incidents
Cover Up
Cover Up is an American action/adventure television series that aired for one season on CBS from September 22, 1984 to April 6, 1985. Created by Glen A. Larson, the series stars Jennifer O'Neill, Jon-Erik Hexum, Antony Hamilton, and Richard Anderson....
. These included an unexpected unit criticality
Criticality accident
A criticality accident, sometimes referred to as an excursion or a power excursion, is an accidental increase of nuclear chain reactions in a fissile material, such as enriched uranium or plutonium...
in 1978 and additional systematic false reporting, which had not been uncovered during the 2002 inquiry. Along with scandals at other Japanese electric companies, this failure to ensure corporate compliance resulted in strong public criticism of Japan's electric power industry and the nation's nuclear energy policy
Nuclear energy policy
Nuclear energy policy is a national and international policy concerning some or all aspects of nuclear energy, such as mining for nuclear fuel, extraction and processing of nuclear fuel from the ore, generating electricity by nuclear power, enriching and storing spent nuclear fuel and nuclear fuel...
. Again, the company made no effort to identify those responsible.
2008 shutdown
In 2008, Tokyo Electric, forced to shut the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power PlantKashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant
The is a large, modern nuclear power plant on a 4.2-square-kilometer site including land in the towns of Kashiwazaki and Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture, Japan on the coast of the Sea of Japan, from where it gets cooling water...
after an earthquake, posted its first loss in 28 years as oil and gas costs soared.
2011 TEPCO nuclear accidents
On 11 March 2011 several nuclear reactors in Japan were badly damaged by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
.
The Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant
Tokai Nuclear Power Plant
The was Japan's first nuclear power plant. It was built in the early 1960s to the British Magnox design, and generated power from 1966 until it was decommissioned in 1998. A second nuclear plant, built at the site in the 1970s, was the first in Japan to produce over 1000 MW of electricity, and...
lost external electric power, experienced the failure of one of its two cooling pumps, and two of its three emergency power generators. External electric power could only be restored two days after the earthquake.
The Japanese government declared an “atomic power emergency” and evacuated thousands of residents living close to TEPCO's Fukushima I plant. Reactors 4, 5 and 6 had been shut down prior to the earthquake for planned maintenance. The remaining reactors were shut down automatically after the earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
, but the subsequent tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
flooded the plant, knocking out emergency generators needed to run pumps which cool and control the reactors. The flooding and earthquake damage prevented assistance being brought from elsewhere. Over the following days there was evidence of partial nuclear meltdown
Nuclear meltdown
Nuclear meltdown is an informal term for a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating. The term is not officially defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency or by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission...
s in reactors 1, 2 and 3; hydrogen explosions destroyed the upper cladding of the building housing reactors 1 and 3; an explosion damaged reactor 2's containment; and severe fires broke out at reactor 4.
The Japanese authorities rated the events at reactors 1, 2 and 3 as a level 5 (Accident With Wider Consequences) on the International Nuclear Event Scale
International Nuclear Event Scale
The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale was introduced in 1990 by the International Atomic Energy Agency in order to enable prompt communication of safety significance information in case of nuclear accidents....
, while the events at reactor 4 were placed at level 3 (Serious Incident). The situation as a whole was rated as level 7 (Major Accident).
On 20 March, Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano
Yukio Edano
is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet. He was the Chief Cabinet Secretary in the Kan government. On September 12, 2011, he was named as Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry...
"confirmed for the first time that the nuclear complex — with heavy damage to reactors and buildings and with radioactive contamination throughout — would be closed once the crisis was over." At the same time, questions are being asked, looking back, about whether company management waited too long before pumping seawater into the plant, a measure that would ruin and has now ruined the reactors; and, looking forward, "whether time is working for or against the workers and soldiers struggling to re-establish cooling at the crippled plant." One report noted that defense minister, Toshimi Kitazawa
Toshimi Kitazawa
is the current Japanese defence minister. He is a politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet . A native of Nagano, Nagano and graduate of Waseda University, he was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 1992 after serving in the...
, on 21 March had committed "military firefighters to spray water around the clock on an overheated storage pool at Reactor No. 3." The report concluded with "a senior nuclear executive who insisted on anonymity but has many contacts in Japan sa[ying that] ... caution ... [as] plant operators have been struggling to reduce workers’ risk ... had increased the risk of a serious accident. He suggested that Japan’s military assume primary responsibility. 'It’s the same trade-off you have to make in war, and that is the sacrifice of a few for the safety of many,' he said. 'But a corporation just cannot do that.'"
There has been considerable criticism to the way TEPCO handled the crisis. It was reported that seawater was used only after Prime Minister Naoto Kan
Naoto Kan
is a Japanese politician, and former Prime Minister of Japan. In June 2010, then-Finance Minister Kan was elected as the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan and designated Prime Minister by the Diet to succeed Yukio Hatoyama. On 26 August 2011, Kan announced his resignation...
ordered it following an explosion at one reactor the evening of 12 March, though executives had started considering it that morning. Tepco didn't begin using seawater at other reactors until 13 March. Referring to that same early decision-making sequence, "Michael Friedlander, a former senior operator at a Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
power plant with General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
reactors similar to the troubled ones in Japan, said the crucial question is whether Japanese officials followed G.E.’s emergency operating procedures." Kuni Yogo, a former atomic energy policy planner in Japan’s Science and Technology Agency and Akira Omoto, a former Tepco executive and a member of the Japanese Atomic Energy Commission
Japanese Atomic Energy Commission
The was established in 1956 and serves as the regulatory body for nuclear power in Japan. The Atomic Energy Basic Law contained a provision for its creation, and shortly after the law was enacted, the organization started activities, which are stated to be: assure that research and use of nuclear...
both questioned Tepco's management's decisions in the crisis. Kazuma Yokota, a safety inspector with Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency
The is a Japanese nuclear regulatory and oversight branch of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. It was created in 2001 during the 2001 Central Government Reform. It has a main office in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo that works with the...
, or NISA, was at Fukushima I at the time of the earthquake and tsunami and provided details of the early progression of the crisis.
The Fukushima disaster displaced 50,000 households in the evacuation zone because of radiation leaks into the air, soil and sea.
Company future
On 30 March 2011, the president of Tepco, Masataka Shimizu, was hospitalized with symptoms of dizziness and high blood pressure in the wake of an increasingly serious outlook for the Fukushima plant and increasing levels of radiation from the stricken plant, as well as media reports of Tepco's imminent nationalization or bankruptcy triggered by the situation at the Fukushima plant.Offices
| Name | Location | |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate Headquarters | 1-1-3 Uchisaiwai-Cho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan | |
| Tokyo Branch | 5-4-9 Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo | Service offices: Ginza, Koutou, Ueno, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Otsuka, Ogikubo, Shinagawa |
| Kanagawa Branch | 1-1 Benten-Dori, Naka, Yokohama City, Kanagawa | Service offices: Kawasaki, Tsurumi, Yokohama, Fujisawa, Sagamihara, Hiratsuka, Odawara |
| Chiba Branch | 2-9-5 Fujimi, Chuo, Chiba City, Chiba | Service offices: Chiba, Keiyou, Toukatsu, Narita, Kisarazu |
| Washington, D.C. Office | 1901 L Street, NW, Suite 720, Washington D.C. | |
| London Office | Wing 7, Fourth Floor, Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square London W1J 6BR, UK |
Nuclear
| Name | Location | Number of units | Generation Capacity (MW) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant The , also known as Fukushima Dai-ichi , is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a site in the towns of Okuma and Futaba in the Futaba District of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. First commissioned in 1971, the plant consists of six boiling water reactors... |
22 Kitahara, Mezawa, Okuma Town, Futaba County, Fukushima | 6 (of which at least 4 were destroyed by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami) +2 (planned) | 0 (operational) +2,700 (planned) |
| Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant The , or Fukushima Dai-ni , is a nuclear power plant located on a site in the town of Naraha and Tomioka in the Futaba District of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan... |
12 Obamatsukuri, Namikura, Narawa Town, Futaba County, Fukushima | 4 (operational) | 4,400 (operational) |
| Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant The is a large, modern nuclear power plant on a 4.2-square-kilometer site including land in the towns of Kashiwazaki and Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture, Japan on the coast of the Sea of Japan, from where it gets cooling water... |
16-46 Aoyama-Cho, Kashiwazaki City, Niigata | 2 (operational) 5 (closed) | 2,712 (operational) 5,500 (closed) |
In March 2008, Tokyo Electric announced that the start of operation of four new nuclear power reactors would be postponed by one year due to the incorporation of new earthquake resistance assessments. Units 7 and 8 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant would now enter commercial operation on October 2014 and October 2015, respectively. Unit 1 of the Higashidori plant is now scheduled to begin operating in December 2015, while unit 2 will start up in 2018 at the earliest.
Fossil Fuel
| Name | Location Geographic coordinate system A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on the Earth to be specified by a set of numbers. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represent vertical position, and two or three of the numbers represent horizontal position... | Units | Capacity (MW) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chiba | |||
| Goi | |||
| Anegasaki Power Station Anegasaki Power Station is a large power station in Ichihara, Chiba, Japan. The facility operates with an installed capacity of 3,600 MW. Power is generated by six turbines rated at 600 MW... |
35°29′06"N 140°01′00"E | 6 × 600MW | 3,600 |
| Sodegaura Power Station Sodegaura Power Station The Sodegaura Power Station is a large gas-fired power station in Sodegaura, Japan. The facility generates power by utilizing one 600 MW and three 1,000 MW units, thus operating at an installed capacity of 3,600 MW, making it one of the largest power stations of its kind... |
3,600 | ||
| Futtsu Power Station Futtsu Power Station The Futtsu Power Station is the second largest gas-fired power station in the world, located in Futtsu, Japan. The power station operates at by utilizing five units, of which two are and in size, and one is . All five units run on LNG, a form of natural gas. The facility is owned by Tepco.... |
25 Shintomi, Futtsu City, Chiba | 4 (operational) | 5,000 |
| Kashima Power Station Kashima Power Station is a large oil-fired power station in Kamisu, Ibaraki, Japan. The facility operates with an installed capacity of 4,400 MW. Power is generated by two turbines rated at 1,000 MW and four turbines rated at 600 MW.- See also :... |
4,400 | ||
| Hirono Power Station Hirono Power Station is an oil-fired power station located in Hirono, Fukushima, Japan.The plant has an installed capacity of 3,800 MW. Power is generated by three 600 MW units, and two 1,000 MW units... |
3,800 | ||
| Hitachinaka | |||
| Oi Thermal Power Station Oi Thermal Power Station is a large thermal power station in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. The power station generates electricity utilizing three units of 350 MW, which run on crude oil, with a total installed capacity of 1,050 MW. The first unit went online in August 1971, followed by Unit 2 in February 1972, and... |
1-2-2 Yashio, Shinagawa, Tokyo | 1 (operational) | 1,050 |
| Shinagawa | 5-6-22 Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa, Tokyo | 1 (operational) | 1,140 (operational) |
| Yokosuka Thermal Power Station Yokosuka Thermal Power Station is a large thermal power station operated by Tokyo Electric in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan. The facility is located in Kurihama, at the southern tip of Miura Peninsula.-History:... |
9-2-1 Kurihama, Yokosuka City, Kanagawa | 3 (operational) +4 (standby) | 730 (operational) +1,400 (standby) |
| Kawasaki | 5-1 Chidori-Cho, Kawasaki, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa | 1 (under construction) | 3,000 (under construction) |
| Yokohama | 11-1 Daikoku-Cho, Tsurumi, Yokohama City, Kanagawa | 4 (operational) | 3,325 (operational) |
| Minami Yokohama | 37-1 Shin-Isogo Cho, Isogo, Yokohama City, Kanagawa | 3 (operational) | 1,150 (operational) |
| Higashi Ogishima | 3 Higashi-Ogishima, Kawasaki, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa | 2 (operational) | 2,000 (operational) |
Hydro
Tepco has a total of 160 hydroelectric stations with a total capacity of 8,520 MW- Pumped-storage hydroelectricityPumped-storage hydroelectricityPumped-storage hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric power generation used by some power plants for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation. Low-cost off-peak electric power is used to run the pumps...
（500 MW and up）- Nagawado DamMatsumoto, Naganois a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Matsumoto is designated as a Special City.-Outline:The new city of Matsumoto is the city comprising the mergers of the old city of Matsumoto and four villages. Matsumoto officially absorbed those villages without creating a new municipal...
(623 MW) - Takase Dam (1,280 MW)
- Tanbara DamTanbara DamTamahara Dam is a dam in the Gunma Prefecture of Japan. It supports a 1,200 MW hydroelectric power station.-References:-External links:...
(1,200 MW) - Sabigawa Dam (900 MW)
- Imashi Dam (1,050 MW)
- Kazunogawa Dam (800 MW)
- Kanagawa Hydroelectric Generating Station (2,820 MW)
- Nagawado Dam
Electric vehicle batteries and recharging
Under the lead of an organization affiliated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Tokyo Electric Power Company is working out next-gen car battery norms.It has developed a specification for high-voltage DC
Direct current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
automotive fast charging using a JARI
Jari
Jari might mean:* Jari , a Norse dwarf* Jari, Rio Grande do Sul, a city in Brazil* Jari River, a northern tributary of the Amazon river on the border between the states of Pará and Amapá in Brazil.* Jari is also a Finnish male given name...
Level 3 DC connector, and formed the CHΛdeMO (stands for Charge and Move) association with Japanese automakers Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi Motors
is a multinational automaker headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. In 2009 it was the fifth-largest Japan-based automaker and the 17th-largest in the world measured by production...
, Nissan and Subaru
Subaru
; is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries .Subaru is internationally known for their use of the boxer engine layout popularized in cars by the Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911, in most of their vehicles above 1500 cc as well as...
to promote it.
See also
- Battery electric vehicleBattery electric vehicleA battery electric vehicle, or BEV, is a type of electric vehicle that uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs. BEVs use electric motors and motor controllers instead of, or in addition to, internal combustion engines for propulsion.A battery-only electric vehicle or...
- EcoCuteEcoCuteThe EcoCute is an energy efficient electric heat pump, water heating and supply system that uses heat extracted from the air to heat water for domestic, industrial and commercial use. Instead of the more conventional ammonia or haloalkane gases, EcoCute uses supercritical carbon dioxide as a...
- Subaru R1eSubaru R1eThe Subaru R1e is a battery-electric microcar undergoing development and testing. The car was jointly developed with Tokyo Electric Power, the giant Japanese utility company. Currently 10 prototypes have been built and are undergoing testing by Tokyo Electric Power, which plans to eventually...