Japanese power utility Kansai Electric has decided not to go ahead with its project to convert its 1,200 MW Ako oil-fired power plant to coal, due to lower electricity demand, environmental constraints and efficiency concerns.
The group announced in March 2015 that it would convert the two 600 MW oil-fired units commissioned in 1987 to coal by 2020. However, the proposed conversion to coal would have resulted in less efficient operations than building a new coal-fired power plant. Moreover, coal-fired power projects, which have boomed since the Fukushima disaster, have come under criticism, since Japan signed up to the Paris 2015 agreement on climate change. Finally, Kansai Electric is facing a lower electricity demand, due to energy efficiency measures and to the stronger competition from new entrants since the opening of the retail electricity market in Japan on 1 April 2016.
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