Japanese utility Tohoku Electric Power has pushed back the restart of its 600MW Noshiro No.1 coal-fired power generation unit by around two weeks for unexpected repairs.
The unit in Japan's northwestern Akita prefecture was scheduled to resume operations yesterday, after five-day safety checks at equipment to prevent any contaminated steam. But Tohoku found damage to the system, forcing it to extend the restart to mid-January.
Tohoku still expects to have around a 10pc surplus of electricity during the Noshiro closure, despite its continuing absence of nuclear reactors and the winter heating demand season. This is well above the ideal reserve level of 7-8pc to tackle any emergencies such as unexpected shutdown of power plants and surge in peak demand.
Its 1,100MW Higashidori and 2,174MW Onagawa nuclear power plants remain shut amid reinforcement work to meet stricter nuclear safety standards that took effect in July 2013. The utility has applied to Japan's nuclear regulation authority to restart the Higashidori reactors and the 825MW Onagawa No.2 unit. But it is unclear when the reactors will be approved for restarts.
Tohoku consumed 6.8mn t of coal in the first 10 months of 2014, up by 3.4pc compared with 6.6mn t for the same period the previous year.
mh/rjd
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