Japan’s Tokyo Gas to attempt biomass plant restart

Japanese utility Tokyo Gas plans to begin trial runs of its 51.5MW Fushiki Manyofuto biomass-fired power generation plant from the end of April, aiming to resume operations after an earthquake in January this year.

Tokyo Gas did not disclose when it will restart full operations at the power plant. The power plant is in Toyama prefecture, which neighbours Ishikawa prefecture that was the epicentre of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the Hokuriku region on 1 January.

The plant was already shut down before the earthquake because of a technical issue, with operations originally to restart in mid-January. But it was forced to extend the shutdown because of damage from earthquake-related liquefaction.

Fushiki Manyofuto began commercial operations in July 2022, using 200,000 t/yr of biomass including wood pellets and palm kernel shells.

By Nanami Oki