Regional Coal: Tepco commences operations of new coal-fired power plant

Tokyo Electric Power Co. , or Tepco, started commercial operations Friday at a new coal-fired power plant at its Hitachi-Naka power station in Ibaraki Prefecture, eastern Japan, Dow Jones reported.

This is the first time in 30 years that Tepco has operated a coal-fired power plant, having scrapped its Shin Tokyo Dai-Ichi power station in 1973, a company spokesman said.

The country's largest power utility plans to operate the newly built thermal power plant at its full capacity of 1 million kilowatts. It will be a key source of electricity for Tepco, together with its nuclear power plants.

The new plant uses advanced technology to keep carbon dioxide emissions relatively low, the spokesman added.

Tepco expects to burn 2 million metric tons of coal a year if it maintains full-capacity operations at the Hitachi-Naka power plant.

The company is procuring coal mainly from Australia, Indonesia and China through a combination of long-term supply contracts and spot purchases.(*)