2014年3月末に、各電力会社から2014年度の「供給計画の概要」が発表されました。そこから、東電に続き、入札を通じた新たな火力発電建設として、石炭火力発電建設が国内で加速する恐れが鮮明になっています。
東京電力が火力電源入札の仕組みを通じて最初に行った260万kWの入札については、
2013年7月には中部電力と東京電力、J-POWERと新日鐵住金の2グループが各１基の石炭火力発電所の建設を落札し、2020年からの計68万kW分の売電に向けて既に新会社が動き出しています（関連記事参照）。
この東電による入札の動きが引き金になったかのように、ここにきて他の電力会社が堰を切ったように、火力電源入札に乗り出しています。
まず関西電力。1970年代までは大阪府や兵庫県の沿岸にあった石炭火力発電所を廃止してからは、長らく火力発電は石油とガスのみでしたが、2004年に舞鶴1号機（90万kW）を、2010年度に2号機（90万kW）を稼動させ、近年、同社の電力供給量における石炭火力の占める割合は近年高まっています。そこに加え今回、3月末に、2021～23年度から原則15年間需給する電力150万kW相当の入札募集を行うと発表しました。
募集要綱案では購入電力の価格は明示されず、燃料種は「受給期間を通じて安定して調達できることが条件」という表現にとどまりますが、東電の場合と同様に石炭になる可能性が高いと考えられます。一部の報道では、関西電力がJ-POWERと共同して兵庫県高砂市の発電所跡地に、大型火力発電所を建設するとされています。既に事前説明会が開催され、要綱案の確定を経て7月から10月にかけて入札を行い、2015年2月頃には落札者を決める予定です。
それだけではありません。中部電力、東北電力、九州電力もそれぞれ、100万kW、計120万kW、100万kWの火力発電所の火力電源入札を発表しました。さらに、東京電力も、2014年4月11日には、前回の不足分約200万kWと今後のリプレース分を合わせて新たに600万kW相当分の入札をすると発表しました。
これらの火力建設ラッシュに関心を示す企業は少なくなく、東京電力の事前説明会には78社、関西電力には41社、東北電力と九州電力にはそれぞれ30社以上（東北電力と九州電力は自社応札を含む）が参加したと伝えられます。これらの計画が、価格面から石炭火力発電として進められれば、日本はおそるべき石炭ラッシュを2020年以降迎えることになります。
まるで、今こそ石炭建設を！と言わんばかりの、異様な前のめりです。これらが現実化すれば、将来にわたる膨大なCO2排出を決定づけ、さらに、化石燃料に依存した旧来型エネルギーシステムを固定化させてしまいます。リスク認識を持たずに官民挙げて突き進む現状は、時代錯誤的であり、何より、取り返しのつかない過ちではないでしょうか？
リンク：
14/02/26 資源エネルギー庁 新しい火力電源入札の運用に係る指針（２次改訂）
14/03/25 日本経済新聞 「関電・中部電、火力を新設 石炭活用 事業費1000～2000億円 」
14/03/26 関西電力 「火力電源の入札の概要」
14/03/27 東北電力 「火力電源の入札募集の実施について」
14/03/27 九州電力 「火力電源の入札募集の実施について」
14/04/11 東京電力 「火力電源の入札募集の実施について」
関連記事：
2013/12/29 中部電力と東京電力が新会社設立~早くも石炭火力発電所新設（茨城県内）へ始動
2014/1/6 電源開発（Jパワー）と新日鐵住金も新会社設立～やはり、茨城県内で石炭火力発電所の建設～
いまさら石炭、ありえない3つの理由
At the end of March, 2014, Japanese utility companies started to announce their fiscal 2014 energy supply plans. It has become increasingly clear that these companies are following in the footsteps of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) by opening up bids for new thermal power plants and thus clearing the way for a coal rush.
TEPCO first opened bidding for 2600 MW and it was announced on July 2013 that Chubu Electric Power Company, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation and Electric Power Development (J-POWER) won the bid to supply electricity. As a result, 2 new companies, one by Chubu Electric (with TEPCO) and the other by the 2 remaining bidders, Nippon Steel and J-POWER, were established to build 2 new coal power plants in order to supply a total of 680 MW by 2020 (see related links).
TEPCO’s bid for electricity has paved the way for other utility companies such as Kansai Electric to open bids for thermal energy.
In the case of Kansai Electric Power Company, it had stopped running coal-fired power plants on the coast lines of Osaka and Hyogo prefectures up until the 1970s and for a time, the utility only used petroleum and gas for thermal power plants. However, Maizuru Power Plant No. 1 (900MW) and No 2 (900 MW) were newly built and started operations in 2004 and 2010 respectively, which recently upped the amount of electricity supplied by coal-fired power plants. To make the situation worse, at the end of March, 2014, the utility company announced that they have opened a bid for 1500MW for power plants to start generation between 2021 and 2023 to supply electricity to Kansai Electric for at least for 15 years.
In a draft of their bid outline, at what price they will purchase electricity is not disclosed and there is only the condition that “a stable supply of fuel be procured within a set period”. However, as with TEPCO, there is a high possibility that the fuel of choice will be coal. According to some news sources, Kansai Electric and J-POWER will jointly construct a large-scale thermal power plant on a former power plant site in Takasago city, Hyogo prefecture. The debriefing session has already been held and through the establishment of a concrete outline, the bid will be open from July to October, 2014 with the winner being decided in February, 2015.
Unfortunately, Chubu Electric, Tohoku Electric and Kyushu Electric have also announced thermal power bids for 1000 MW, 1200MW and 1000MW respectively. In addition, on April 11th, 2014, TEPCO announced that they will open up bids for a further 6000MW which includes the 2000MW shortage of electricity from their previous bid as well as a power supply for an upcoming power plant replacement.
There seems to be a stream of companies who are getting on the coal bandwagon. It has been reported that 78 companies attended TEPCO’s debriefing session and more than 30 companies attended Kansai Electric’s. In addition, Tohoku Electric and Kyushu Electric both attracted more than 30 companies each (both companies are considering to bid themselves). If this trend continues, the coal rush in Japan will continue beyond 2020. It seems that Japanese companies are almost fanatical in their enthusiasm to use coal.
If this is realized, large amounts of CO2 will be emitted over a long period in the future and we won’t be able to break away from this conventional energy system that relies so heavily on fossil fuels. Both the private and public sector are being put in this situation where the risks are brushed aside. We are moving backwards in the climate change fight. If we continue on this path, we may never be able to turn back. Major utility companies must see the errors of their ways and move away from coal.
Links:
“Proceeding with new thermal energy bids (2nd revision)”, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, February 26th, 2014 (Japanese)
http://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/denkihp/karyokudengen/karyokudengen2.pdf
“Kansai Electric, Chubu Electric to build new coal-fired thermal power plants at a cost of 100-200 billion yen”, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, March 25th, 2014 (Japanese)
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXDASDF2400O_U4A320C1MM8000/
“With its reactors in limbo, Kansai Electric looks to coal”, Nikkei Asian Review, March 26th, 2014
http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Trends/Kansai-Electric-poised-to-expand-coalfired-thermal-power-amid-murky-nuclear-outlook
“Overview of thermal power bid”, Kansai Electric Power Company, March 26th, 2014 (Japanese)
http://www.kepco.co.jp/business/partner/thermal/index.html
“Submission of the Electricity Supply Plan for Fiscal Year 2014”, Tohoku Electric Power, March 27th, 2014 (Japanese)
http://www.tohoku-epco.co.jp/english/press/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2014/03/28/press140327.pdf
“Outline of Supply Plan for FY2014”, Kyushu Electric Power, March 27th, 2014 (Japanese)
http://www.kyuden.co.jp/var/rev0/0042/7896/outline_of_supply_plan_for_fy2014_2.pdf
“Invitation for Bids on Thermal Power Generation Facilities (2nd tender round)” Tokyo Electric Power Company, April 11th, 2014 (Japanese)
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2014/1235635_5892.html
“Bid open for thermal power”, Tokyo Electric Power Company, April 11th, 2014 (Japanese)
http://www.tepco.co.jp/kaikaku/ipp/index-j.html
Related articles:
“TEPCO and Chubu Electric to form new company, push forward new coal-fired power plant in Ibaraki”, Don’t go back to the sekitan, December 29th, 2013
https://sekitan.jp/en/info/article20140507/
“3 Reasons why coal should be a choice”, Don’t go back to the sekitan
https://sekitan.jp/en/home/%EF%BC%95%EF%BC%8E%E7%9F%B3%E7%82%AD%E3%81%AB%E9%A0%BC%E3%82%89%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E9%81%93%E3%82%92%E9%81%B8%E3%81%B6%E3%81%BB%E3%81%86%E3%81%8C%E3%81%84%E3%81%84%E3%82%8F%E3%81%91/