The impact of power-saving

October 13, 2014

EDITORIAL: Power-saving efforts should mark transition away from nuclear energy

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/editorial/AJ201410140024

This year’s summer was Japan’s first nuclear-free one since the Fukushima nuclear disaster started in 2011.

Two nuclear reactors of Kansai Electric Power Co. were online last summer. With those reactors idled this summer, Kansai Electric initially planned to ensure a supply leeway of 3 percent at peak demand by operating other power-generating facilities, such as thermal power plants, at full throttle and procuring additional power from Tokyo Electric Power Co.

As it turned out, the Osaka-based regional utility managed to maintain a supply leeway of 6.6 percent even during the highest demand on July 25, and it never had to obtain electricity from TEPCO.

The relatively mild summer was certainly one factor that dampened general demand for power. But the peak demand in the Kansai region occurred on a day of scorching heat, when temperatures exceeded 37 degrees in Osaka. The supply leeway, however, remained relatively spacious.

Kansai Electric has attributed the situation to 1.08 gigawatts more power being saved on top of its initial expectations. That difference is roughly worth the output of one nuclear reactor.

Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai nuclear power plant, for which safety screenings of the Nuclear Regulation Authority are at the most advanced stage, will likely not be restarted before next year, so Japan is expected to remain nuclear-free during the coming winter. Although we cannot afford to be too optimistic, what we have achieved to this point provides promising signs.

More than 90 percent of business offices and nearly 70 percent of households told a survey conducted in Kansai Electric’s service area that they had tried to save on power. So many users are willing to cooperate in power-saving efforts to the best extent they can.

Efforts on the side of power utilities only appear tardy in the light of those endeavors.

Utilities adhere to their argument that reactor restarts are essential for ensuring a stable supply of electricity because aged thermal power plants run the risk of failures. Hokkaido Electric Power Co. plans to raise its electricity rates for a second time in November on grounds that growing fuel costs are weighing heavily on its management. Other utilities are seeking to follow suit.

But their eagerness to stick to nuclear power generation may be applying the brakes on reforms needed to adapt to a changing management environment.

The more stringent safety measures implemented after the Fukushima nuclear disaster have turned the purported “inexpensive and stable” power source--the longtime promotional blurb for nuclear power--into a thing of the past.

Nuclear power plants could even become a burden on management when the current full-cost pricing method, which allows all expenses to be collected as part of electricity charges, ends with the liberalization of the power retail market from 2016.

The imperative of survival would only necessitate the utilities to seek alternative power sources and phase out their dependence on nuclear energy.

Regional utilities have taken major steps of late to begin supplying power to users outside their own service areas. In the meantime, a number of utilities have stopped signing new contracts to purchase power generated from renewable energy sources on grounds that the capacity of their power grid is running short.

These actions, taken more than three and a half years since the nuclear disaster prompted a national debate on energy policy, seem illogical.

The utilities should see the current availability of broad-based cooperation in power-saving efforts as marking a precious transition period, and they should establish solid management strategies for phasing out their reliance on nuclear power. Merely reiterating their calls for nuclear reactor restarts may no longer pull at the heartstrings of their users.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 13