Six Japanese thermal power plants partially suspended activity due to earthquake

Several thermal power plants in northeastern Japan are being restarted after shutdowns from a magnitude 7.3 earthquake offshore Fukushima on February 13, alleviating immediate electricity supply concerns, Report informs, citing TASS.

The earthquake shut a combined 6.867 GW at 13 coal and gas-fired power plants in northeastern Japan, with at least another 2 GW of coal-fired capacity was to be closed on February 14 for checkups, according to S&P Global Platts calculations based on the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry and company information. ENEOS' 145,000 b/d Sendai refinery was also shut after the earthquake.

The shutdowns of the thermal power plant capacity and the Sendai refinery came when northeastern Japan is still in the midst of the winter power and heating demand season.

The thermal power outage capacity stood at 7.221 GW as of noon local time February 15 (0300 GMT), according to the Platts calculations, including the shutdowns of Tohoku Electric's 2GW Haramachi coal-fired capacity, as well as its restart of 1.046 GW capacity over 3-1, 3-2 gas-fired units at the Shin Sendai thermal power plant.

JERA also plans to restart its Hirono 600 MW No. 6 coal-fired unit on February 15 and renew its 600 MW No. 5 coal-fired unit at the Hirono thermal power plant Fukushima on February 16.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the earthquake hit offshore Fukushima at a depth of 55 km at 11:07 pm local time, and the magnitude was revised tentatively to 7.3 from a preliminary 7.1.