Enigin Update - Japan Calls for Winter Energy Saving after Fukushima
THE Japanese Government is calling for energy users to reduce consumption by more than 10 percent this winter as more nuclear reactors go offline after the Fukushima disaster in March.
Bloomberg reported that a call is to go to the energy users in the area supplied by the Kansai Electric Power Co., Japan’s primary nuclear utility company. Kansai Electric revealed yesterday that it expects to report a full-year loss because of the higher cost of fossil fuels to run power stations.
Without nuclear energy Japan’s fuel costs could rise by around 3 trillion yen ($38 billion) if oil and liquefied natural gas is used to generate the power lost from its nuclear power plants in the year ended March 2010- 280 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.
Japan has less than a fifth of its 54 reactors operating, either because they have been shut down by the earthquake and tsunami or due to scheduled maintenance.
Tsuyoshi Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, told reporters in Tokyo: “We have made an action plan that avoids scheduled blackouts and mandatory power saving. It will be reviewed in spring next year.”
Companies supplied by Kansai Electric are being asked to voluntarily reduce energy use between December 19 and March 23, the Government revealed in a statement. They also said that cuts of over 5 percent are to be requested in southwestern Japan through to February 3.
It has been estimated that Japan’s power supply could experience a short fall of 9.2 percent in the summer of 2012 if the reactors shut down for safety checks and maintenance have not restarted and if the power demand is as high as 2010, the Government said.
The Government is going to promote energy monitoring and energy efficiency to reduce demand, hopefully by 9,800 megawatts by next summer, they also plan to increase electricity supply by 6,420 megawatts by expanding the thermal, hydro and renewable energy capacity of the country.
Enigin Distributors can help Japanese industry, commerce and the public sector to gain control of their energy use. Using Enigin plc's solutions and systems, such as Eniscope, decision makers can see what energy their facilities are using and target energy waste - saving consumption, emissions and money.
Picture of Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Bay by Chris Wells reproduced under CCL.
