Japan faces hurdles in cutting coal power ratio to 20pc

Japan is facing challenges to further reduce coal-fired power generation to 20pc of the energy mix, as it has to ensure supply security and limit the impact to in-house power generators in the industry sector.

The trade and industry ministry (Meti) today shared its views that it would be quite difficult to cut the ratio of coal-fired power capacity to 20-25pc by the April 2030-March 2031 fiscal year, although it will gear up efforts to reduce the share as much as possible. The current 2030-31 power portfolio prescribed a 26pc ratio for coal, lower than 32pc in 2019-20.

The government is pushing forward with a plan to phase out inefficient coal-fired power units to meet the 2030-31 goal, while the 26pc target incorporated nine coal power units under construction. The further cuts in on-site coal power units in the industry sector would eroded the international competitiveness of the country's manufacturers, Meti said.

Meti has estimated that the industry sector would bear additional costs of ¥10bn/yr ($90.6mn/yr), if a manufacturer scraps a 100MW in-house coal-fed generator and buys electricity to make up the lost capacities.

Meti is discussing a new power mix target for 2030-31, to adapt to tougher greenhouse gas (GHG) emission goals for the same year. Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga pledged in April that the country will achieve a 46pc cut in the country's 2030-31 GHG emissions from 2013-14 levels, in line with the 2050 decarbonisation goal. This was revised up from the 26pc reduction target in the similar comparison.

By Motoko Hasegawa