Japan TEPCO's power utilization at 97%; possible outage if any glitch: minister

Japan's Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Koichi Hagiuda said Jan. 7 that the area which was covered by TEPCO Power Grid could have faced a power outage had there been any glitch at the power plants, as its utilization had reached a high 97% of available supply on Jan. 6.

"With TEPCO reaching 97% [utilization of available supply] yesterday [Jan. 6], we were really in a position of possibly facing a power outage should there had been a glitch at any one plant," Hagiuda told a press conference early Jan. 7.

"A stable supply was secured because of increased runs at thermal power plants in TEPCO's area, together with the utilization of power plants secured from additional public tenders as well as the swift regional electricity supply directed by the OCCTO [Organization for Cross-Regional Coordination of Transmission Operators] as power demand increased to unusually high levels because of the heavy snow yesterday [Jan. 6]," Hagiuda said.

As Japan's nationwide power supply and demand remains severe this winter, METI intends to closely monitor and ensure stable supply by working closely with OCCTO and power utilities, he added.

The minister's remarks came as TEPCO Power Grid's demand reached 52.73 GW, or 97% utilization of its 54.31 GW supply at 3 pm-4 pm local time (0600-0700 GMT) Jan. 6. Its demand peaked at 53.74 GW, or 96% of its 55.69 GW supply over 4 pm-5 pm.

On Jan. 6, OCCTO issued a total of four directives to TEPCO Power Grid such that it was able to obtain additional electricity from other regional utilities, including additional orders to get up to 2.76 GW of electricity over 8 pm-12 am and a maximum of 2.74 GW of electricity over 12 am-9 am Jan. 7.

The Jan. 6 directives followed a maximum 1.32 GW of electricity supply in its second order, in addition to receiving up to 1.22 GW electricity supply in its directive earlier in the day.

Demand at 96% over supply

On Jan. 7, TEPCO Power Grid expects its power demand and utilization to peak at 94% of its available supply. It had expected its power demand to peak at 50.79 GW, while utilization to reach 50.79 GW, of available supply at 53.98 GW over 8 am-9 am.

TEPCO Power Grid's actual power demand stood at 51.81 GW, or 96% of its 53.66 GW supply at around 9 am, with its actual demand of 50.24 GW, or 95% of its 52.68 GW supply at around 10 am.

Japan's electricity spot prices retreated after leaping the last few days. Japan's Electric Power Exchange's 24 hours, day-ahead price stood at Yen 16.97/kWh, while the daytime (8 am to 10 pm local time) day-ahead was at Yen 16.40/kWh.

Japan's largest power generation company JERA on Jan. 4 restarted its mothballed 600 MW No. 5 gas-fired unit at the Anegasaki thermal power plant.

JERA restarted the unit so as to have ready capacity over Jan. 4-Feb. 28 after winning a tender issued by TEPCO Power Grid seeking 550 MW of additional supply; part of its response to the Tokyo area's tight winter supply outlook, as detailed by METI back in May 2021. The unit was mothballed in April.

A JERA spokesperson told Platts on Oct. 28 that the company expected it required less than 60,000 mt of LNG to restart the mothballed Anegasaki unit.

Japan's LNG stocks in the hands of major power utilities rebounded 6.6% from Dec. 19, 2021 to 2.42 million mt on Dec. 23, 2021, according to the latest METI data.

As of Dec. 23, LNG stocks were well above the end-December 2020 stockpile of 1.42 million mt, as well as the four-year average of 1.71 million mt, the METI data showed.