Kansai Elec. to Launch Biomass-Coal Power Generation
Tokyo, May 26, 2008 (Jiji Press) - Kansai Electric Power Co. <9503> will start cofiring wood pellets and coal at a power plant in mid-August to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The biomass-coal power generation at its 900,000-kilowatt plant in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan, will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 92,000 tons annually, or 2 pct of emissions from the plant firing only coal, the major Japanese power supplier said.
Kansai Electric plans to buy wood pellets made of sawdust and shavings from a subsidiary of Canadian lumber product company Canfor Corp.
The biomass firing will not lead to a net increase in CO2 emissions. Firing wood pellets emits CO2, because trees absorb released CO2.
With wood pellets for 3 pct of its overall coal use, the Maizuru plant plans to generate about 120 million kilowatt-hours of power annually, or some 2 pct of its overall output.
Power utilities in Japan are required to use environmentally friendly energy sources such as sunlight, wind power and geothermal heat for a certain amount of their power generation.
Kansai Electric's smaller rivals Shikoku Electric Power Co. <9507>, Chugoku Electric Power Co. <9504> and Hokuriku Electric Power Co. <9505> are producing electricity by firing domestically produced woodchip, while Chubu Electric Power Co. <9502> is planning to follow suit.
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