Tohoku Electric to triple wind capacity by 2020

Tohoku Electric Power Co aims to accept more than triple the capacity of wind power to its grid at 2 gigawatts by
2020.

It eyes to meet needs to build wind farms in the region whose wind potential is among the highest in Japan.

The country's grid, linked by 10 regionally power utilities has limited ability to absorb massive capacity from variable energy sources like solar and wind.

But the northern utility and Tokyo Electric Power Co , or Tepco, have agreed to study the feasibility of using Tepco's bigger grid networks to introduce more power from wind turbines, two companies said at a news conference.

Tohoku Electric said it is starting to accept applications from wind farm developers for the joint study to increase wind capacity by 200 megawatts a year over the next two years.

Currently, a total 554 MW of wind farms supply power to Tohoku Electric, and wind power developers with capacity of a total 350 MW have already agreed to supply electricity to its grid.

"It takes three to five years to construct wind farms, so the timing of commercial operation of those accepted would be from 2013 to 2016," said Hiroya Harada, head of Tohoku Electric's Tokyo branch office.

"We'd like to keep recruiting applicants beyond the planned two years," he said.

Tohoku Electric said it expects to be able to secure capacity of at least 13,000 megawatts this winter, but it has not yet finished assessments of demand as the pace of recovery from the March disaster is still unclear.

It has advanced its restart plan for the quake-hit Shin-Sendai 350 MW oil-fired No.1 unit to December from next summer, Japan's fifth-biggest power firm said. It also expects to receive more supply this winter from two quake-hit power joint ventures with Tepco

The full story is available at Reuters.