Press Release

April 28, 2006
  • Environmental Policy

Opinions of the Minister of the Environment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Renovation of the Electric Power Facility of the Sakai Port Power Plant

On 28th of April, 2006, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) submitted the Minister's opinions on the draft environmental impact statement for the proposed renovation of electric power facilities in the Sakai Port Power Plant in Osaka Prefecture, owned by the Kansai Electric Power Co., Ltd. The opinions were given to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, in accordance with the provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment Law and the Electric Utility Law.

This project involves the renovation of exclusively natural gas-fired combined cycle generating systems that will replace the existing conventional thermal generating systems. The MOE commented on the following two issues of this project:

1. Greenhouse gas (CO2) emission
Decrease the unit CO2 emission of electricity sold by this enterprise by: 1) maintaining the operating rate of these new systems at the highest level in the total operation policy since the facilities are expected to emit the lowest level of CO2 among the thermal power plants owned by this enterprise ; and 2) operating all the plants in an adequate proportion.

2. Air pollutants
Steadily implement the measures listed in the draft environmental impact statement in order to maintain the emission of nitrogen oxide (NOx) at the lowest possible level. These measures include operational control of power generation facilities and flue gas denitrification facilities.

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