Japan

  • GE Delivered 40 Megawatts of Solar Inverters for the Pacifico Energy Furukawa Mega Solar Plant in Japan

    MIYAGI, Japan (April 11, 2018) —GE Power recently successfully delivered and commissioned its Brilliance Solar Inverters to Pacifico Energy Osaki GK for the 40.32-megawatt alternating current (AC) mega-solar project in Furukawa, Japan. GE’s Brilliance Solar Inverters meet the customer’s requirements both for reliability and cost competitiveness. Along with the inverters, GE also supplied ring main units […]

  • GE HA Turbine Snags Another World Record for CCGT Efficiency

    Chubu Electric’s Nishi-Nagoya power plant Block-1 in Japan, a plant powered by three GE 7HA turbines and Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions steam turbine and generator technology, is officially the world’s most efficient combined-cycle power plant, according to Guinness World Records.  The entity that collects and showcases ultimate record-breaking facts highlighted the plant’s achievement of […]

  • Pattern Energy Completes First Wind Power Facility in Japan

    SAN FRANCISCO, California (March 22, 2018) – Pattern Energy Group Inc.  today announced the completion of its 33-MW Ohorayama Wind power facility, which is located in Japan’s Kochi Prefecture. “Ohorayama Wind is our first wind project in Japan to complete construction and it was on schedule and under budget. Ohorayama will be followed by the Tsugaru […]

  • Pattern Energy to Enter Japan Market with Acquisition of Projects and a Modest Investment in Development

     SAN FRANCISCO, California, February 26, 2018 – Pattern Energy Group Inc. (NASDAQ and TSX: PEGI) (“Pattern Energy” or the “Company”) today announced a series of transactions highlighted by: 1) agreements to acquire 206 megawatts (“MW”) of owned capacity in projects from Pattern Energy Group LP (“Pattern Development 1.0”) and Green Power Investments (“GPI”); and 2) […]

  • Report: Clean Energy Investments Hit $333.5 Billion in 2017

    Though some countries, including the U.S., have moved to support coal-fired power generation over the past year, investments in renewable energy continued to rise, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). The research group on January 16 said global investment in clean energy such as wind and solar reached about $333.5 […]

  • Cloud Peak Energy Signs Long-Term Coal Export Agreement with JERA Trading to Supply New Japanese IGCC Power Plant

    GILLETTE, Wyo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cloud Peak Energy announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Cloud Peak Energy Logistics (“CPEL”), has entered into a term coal export sales agreement with JERA Trading Pte Ltd. (“JERAT”), which is a trading company based in Singapore (http://jeratrading.com/). Shipments are expected to commence as early as the end of 2019 and continue for […]

  • The Big Picture: Energy Transitions [INFOGRAPHIC]

    An energy transition is underway across the world. Market upheaval, defining events, and recent policy changes have accelerated a shift away from coal toward renewables. Here is how this transformation played out for some of the world’s major economies over the past decade. Graphs show percent of each fuel source of total generation for that […]

  • Two More Japan Nuclear Units Will be Decommissioned

    Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) announced it will permanently close two older nuclear reactors in Japan, rather than invest nearly 100 billion yen ($900 million) to bring the units up to the country’s new safety regulations. Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) created new standards for the country’s nuclear plants after the meltdown at the Fukushima […]

  • POWER Digest [December 2017]

    Construction Set to Begin on First Nuclear Plant in Turkey. Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister, in mid-October said construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant would

  • Japan Regulatory Group Gives Conditional Support for TEPCO Restart

    Japan’s nuclear watchdog agency has given Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) conditional approval to restart two reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. The units were taken offline after the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in March 2011. The country’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) on September 13 said TEPCO could restart the units after it provides a detailed plan […]

  • POWER Digest (September 2017)

    Canadian Solar Expands Solar Power in Japan. Canadian Solar in July started commercial operation of its latest group of photovoltaic solar power plants in Japan as it continues to build its solar presence in

  • Infrastrutture S.p.A. completes innovative solar photovoltaic plant in Japan

    Kumagaya, Saitama, April 10th 2017 – Hergo Japan G.K., a subsidiary of Infrastrutture Group, selected by Mega Solar Power Committee of Kumagaya Municipality, Saitama Prefecture, completes solar photovoltaic plant of 3,5 MW in Japan. After the great earthquake and with the launch of the Renewable policies of the Japanese government in the last few years […]

  • POWER Digest (April 2017)

    Russia Marks Milestone with Commercial Operation of Third-Generation Reactor. After nearly a decade of construction, the first advanced third-generation VVER-1200 nuclear reactor began commercial operation on

  • Who Has the World’s Most Efficient Coal Power Plant Fleet?

    A comparison of coal power plant fleets from China, the European Union (EU), Japan, and the U.S. by the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) Clean Coal Centre yields surprising insights into efforts these

  • Japanese Court Awards Damages to Fukushima Residents

    In a ruling that stunned the nation, a district court in Japan awarded damages to 62 plaintiffs who lived near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant before the 2011 disaster, finding that plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and the Japanese government were aware of risks to the plant and could have taken measures […]

  • Six Years After Fukushima, Only Three Reactors Operating in Japan, More Poised to Restart

    Six years after the Fukushima disaster prompted an electricity crisis in Japan and sent tremors throughout the world’s nuclear power sector, Japan is determined to continue its reliance on nuclear for nearly a fifth of its power needs in the long term. Nuclear will make up 20% to 22% of Japan’s power mix by 2030, […]

  • Fukushima Cleanup Hitting Snags as Robot Probes Fail

    The epic recovery from the 2011 accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, already predicted to take decades and cost at least $35 billion, is encountering delays as a series of robot probes have failed due to encountering more difficult conditions than expected, plant owner Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said this month. TEPCO’s head of […]

  • Crane Collapse at Nuclear Power Plant Adds to Safety Concerns

    A crane boom collapsed under heavy winds at the Takahama nuclear power plant in Japan, landing on the Unit 2 reactor building and fuel handling building at around 9:50 p.m. local time on January 20. Plant operator, Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO), reported that no injuries and no adverse environmental effects resulted from the accident. […]

  • Japan Kills Monju but Not Breeders

    In a widely expected move, the Japanese government finally killed the ill-fated Monju breeder reactor project on September 21, but reasserted its faith in breeder reactor technology as a component of the nation’s future power mix. The Monju plant was an ambitious project that never came close to meeting its backers’ expectations. Launched in 1980, […]

  • GSE Awarded Two International Projects to Modernize Nuclear Simulators, Increasing Company Backlog by More Than $6 Million

    SYKESVILLE, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–GSE Systems, Inc. (“GSE” or “the Company”) (NYSE MKT: GVP), the world leader in real-time high-fidelity simulation systems and training solutions to the power and process industries, today announced that it has been awarded contracts to provide mission-critical updates to multi-unit nuclear site simulator platforms for customers in the UK and Japan. The […]

  • Japan Extends Reactor Lifetimes for First Time Since Fukushima

    Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) this June approved 20-year license extensions for the aging Takahama 1 and 2 reactors, a first for the power-strapped country that has been conflicted about the future of its nuclear power plants since the Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe in 2011. A regulatory system established in the aftermath of Fukushima limits the […]

  • Japanese Nuclear Sector Suffers More Setbacks

    Japan’s embattled nuclear sector, struggling to restart some of its idled reactors, suffered a pair of setbacks this week as a court again ruled against the restart of Takahama Units 3 and 4 in Fukui Prefecture and an antinuclear activist won election as governor of Kagoshima Prefecture, where Japan’s only operating nuclear plant, Sendai, is […]

  • IEA: World’s Power Sector Trails Others in Air Emissions

    The world’s power sector last year emitted a third of global sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, 14% of nitrogen oxides (NOx), and 5% of total particulate emissions (PM2.5), but those emission values have fallen drastically over the last decade even though coal power generation has seen a surge, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a […]

  • GE Energy Financial Services and Virginia Solar Group Commission Pacifico Energy Kumenan Mega Solar Plant in Okayama Prefecture, Japan

    Okayama, Japan—May 16, 2016 – GE Unit (NYSE: GE), GE Energy Financial Services and Virginia Solar Group have commenced commercial operations on its jointly owned 32-megawatt Pacifico Energy Kumenan Mega Solar Project (“Kumenan Solar Project”), located in the Okayama prefecture of Japan.  As one of largest solar power plants in the prefecture and in Japan’s […]

  • NEC Supplies 1.2MWh, Large-Scale Energy Storage System to COLON Company Limited Mega Solar Power Plant

    NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) and NEC Energy Solutions (NEC Energy) today announced that they have supplied and completed the installation of a GSS® large-scale energy storage system, with a capacity of 1.2MWh and output of 500kW, to operate in conjunction with a large PV solar power plant established by COLON Company Limited (Kagoshima Prefecture, […]

  • Five Years after Fukushima in Five Infographics

    It’s been five years since the Great Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami prompted a crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, but the world’s nuclear power sector is still lurching from its aftershocks. The Crisis at Daiichi Endures Five years ago, nearly a day after the 3-minute, 9.0-magnitude Great Tohoku Earthquake struck northeastern Japan—and unleashed […]

  • Japan Restarts Third Nuclear Reactor, a MOX Unit

    Following rigorous safety checks, Kansai Electric Power Co. on February 1 restarted a unit that uses a uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel at its Takahama nuclear plant in Japan’s Fukui prefecture. The unit is the third restarted in Japan since the country’s Nuclear Regulation Agency (NRA) idled all reactors and began safety checks in the […]

  • Japan Restarts Second Nuclear Reactor

    The second unit at Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai nuclear facility in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, has restarted, and three more of the country’s 43 operable reactors may soon follow suit.  Kyushu Electric restarted the 846-MW Sendai 2 nuclear facility on Oct. 15, with plans to connect to the grid on Oct. 21, and to achieve […]

  • Nuclear Is Still the Lowest Cost Option, says IEA/NEA Report

    Nuclear costs aren’t on the rise globally as has been widely thought, says a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) surveying the levelized cost of generating electricity (LCOE).  The eighth edition of the report, “Projected Costs of Generating Electricity” compiles data for 181 plants in 19 OECD and […]

  • Sendai-1 Reactor Restart Marks Japan’s Nuclear Rebirth

    Nearly two years after Japan’s last nuclear power plant was shut down for safety checks, Kyushu Electric Power Co. has started up the 890-MW Sendai-1. The event marks a significant milestone for the country’s nuclear sector, which was crippled by the Fukushima disaster in 2011.  Kyushu started up Sendai-1 at 10:30 a.m. local time and […]