Earthquake in Japan impacts power sector

Following the 7.4-magnitude earthquake reported off Fukushima, Japan, Wood Mackenzie senior analyst Yamato Kawamata gives an overview of the impact on the power sector.

Kawamata said: “Following the earthquake, 6.5 GW thermal power plants including large-size coal and gas plants have been shut down. This led to blackouts for 2.2 million households, and several areas in Tohoku are still suffering blackouts currently. Today’s reserve margin in Tohoku was constantly at around 3% during the day.

“Our real-time generation monitoring platform, PowerRT, shows that several LNG-fired gas plants appear to fill the demand gap of about 2 GW caused by dropped coal plants. Skyrocketing LNG spot prices and the ongoing Ukraine crisis could increase the marginal cost of LNG plants and keep spot power price high.

“While the epicentre is close to that of the 2011 earthquake, there have been no impact so far on nuclear plants.”