Forse toename kolen–gestookte elektriciteitscentrales in Japan

Retoriek versus werkelijkheid.

Beleidsintenties willen nog wel eens op gespannen voet staan met de werkelijkheid. Dat geldt ook voor de wens om het gebruik van kolen voor elektriciteitsopwekking terug te dringen ten gunste van 'schone' energiebronnen en zodoende de uitstoot van CO2 te beperken. Na de ramp van Fukushima heeft Japan vele nucleaire centrales gesloten. Thans wordt weer een voorzichtig begin gemaakt met de opstart van verschillende installaties. Maar de situatie blijft precair: het aanbod kan de vraag maar moeilijk bijhouden. Vandaar dat Japan heeft besloten tot een forse uitbreiding van het aantal kolen–gestookte elektriciteitscentrales.

Onder de titel, 'Japan Continues to Re-Embrace Coal', rapporteerde Mari Iwata in de 'Wall Street Journal':

Lack of nuclear energy prompts return to coal as other countries move away from ‘dirty’ fuel source.

Japan is continuing to re-embrace coal to make up for its lack of nuclear energy, with plans for another power station released Thursday bringing the number of new coal-fired plants announced this year to seven.

Utilities in Japan are eager to take advantage of coal’s relative cheapness to give them a competitive edge at a time when other countries are seeking to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions by moving away from a fuel source seen as dirty.

The liberalization of Japan’s power industry by 2020 will pit power companies against each other as rivals for the first time. In addition, with a relaxation of restrictions on coal power and no new emissions targets on the horizon, utilities are increasingly seeing coal as an important part of their business plans. ...

The relative cheapness of coal was indicated in a 2011 government report that estimated the cost of coal power in Japan at ¥7.5, or about 6 cents, per kilowatt-hour including construction and operation. The same report put the cost of nuclear power at ¥9 per kwh, gas power at ¥10 per kwh and oil power at ¥19 per kwh.

The moves by the power companies are “understandable” in light of the prolonged nuclear outage that has forced power utilities to rely on old, inefficient oil– and gas–power stations, said Hidetoshi Shioda, energy-industry analyst of SMBC Nikko Securities.

All of Japan’s 48 reactors are offline over safety concerns following the Fukushima nuclear accident, though four of them are expected to come back online later this year.

Before the nuclear accident in March 2011, the environment ministry had essentially blocked the building of new coal-power stations through tighter environmental assessments as Japan sought to meet ambitious greenhouse-gas reduction goals that have since been scrapped.

With the power industry straining to meet demand after the accident, the ministry loosened its policy to allow the building of new coal–power capacity provided it used the latest, most efficient technologies available.

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