Targeting to achieve net zero emissions of carbon dioxide by 2050, the biggest power generator of Japan – JERA has communicated their decision to shut down all inefficient coal-fired power plants in Japan by 2030.
Although a panel formed by the Japan government has been verifying the pros and cons of defining standards of an inefficient coal-fired plant, JERA has provisionally stated that it has seen inefficient plants as ones that use ‘supercritical or less’ technology.
With a view to walking abreast with the companies across the globe that are speeding their initiatives to create a decarbonised society, JERA, a thermal power and fuel joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings and Chubu Electric Power, has set their ambitious 2050 target. Establishing the merit of the decision, Hisahide Okuda, Managing Executive Officer, JERA, said, “As a company operating globally and as a utility generating about one-third of domestic electricity, setting these goals is an essential qualification for remaining to be an energy company and an entry ticket for doing business in the global market.”
JERA is now concentrating on enhancing their renewable energy generation capacity including the offshore wind-power plants. Their existing thermal plants will be charged with greener fuels like ammonia and hydrogen. It is planning to start a pilot programme to use ammonia with coal in mixed combustion at its Hekinan thermal power station in central Japan by 2030.
