Japan's Fukushima hit by 7.3 magnitude earthquake, around 6.2 GW power capacity shut

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred offshore Fukushima in northeastern Japan late March 16, shutting multiple coal, gas and oil-fired power units in the region.

The strong earthquake resulted in the closure of at least 6.22 GW in combined generation capacity at 12 coal, gas and oil-fired power plants in northeastern Japan, power utilities said in filings to the Hatsuden Joho Kokai System, or HJKS.

The earthquake hit at a depth of 60 km offshore Fukushima at 11:36 pm local time (1436 GMT) on March 16, with tsunami warnings issued in the northeast, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The earthquake shut JERA's No. 5 and No. 6 coal-fired units, with 600 MW capacity each, at the Hirono thermal power plant in Fukushima, as well as Fukushima Gas Power Co.'s No. 1 and No. 2 gas-fired units, with 590 MW each, the companies said in their filings to HJKS.

It also shut Tohoku Electric's 1 GW No. 1 coal-fired unit at the Haramachi thermal power plant in Fukushima, as well as its No. 3-1 and No. 3-2 combined-cycle gas-fired units with a capacity of 523 MW each.

The earthquake also shut Sendai Power Station's 112 MW coal-fired unit as well as Hitachi Zosen's 112 MW No. 3 gas-fired unit at the No. 1 Ibaraki plant and ENEOS' 431 MW oil-fired power unit at its Negishi plant in Tokyo Bay.

It shut Soma Kyodo Power Company's 1 GW No. 1 coal-fired unit at its Shinchi power plant in Fukushima as well as Nippon Steel's 136 MW coal-fired unit at its Kamaishi thermal power plant in Iwate, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a statement.

The earthquake triggered electricity outages at about 148,100 households in the Tohoku area as well as at about 2.085 million households in the Tokyo area, METI said in a statement.

It also cut Tokyo's power demand by 1 GW as well as reducing 500 MW of electricity demand in the Tohoku area, METI said.

The impact of the earthquake on city gas and LPG facilities, as well as at refineries and oil terminals, was not immediately clear, METI said.

However, Tokyo Gas said that the earthquake had not resulted in suspension of any of its gas supply, adding that there was no damage at its terminals and facilities.