Kansai Electric Says Fuel Costs May Rise by 400 Billion Yen
The Osaka-based company estimated the total costs to fill the void left by nuclear reactors shut for safety checks would total more than 1.7 trillion yen for the year ending March 2013, up from 1.3 trillion yen this fiscal year, according to a presentation on its website.
Only two of JapanÂ’s 54 nuclear reactors remain online after the March 11, 2011, quake and tsunami crippled Tokyo Electric Power Co.Â’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear station. The government has said it wonÂ’t approve the restart of reactors, even if they pass so-called stress tests, unless local authorities agree.
Kansai ElectricÂ’s crude oil consumption in the year ending March is estimated to be nearly 5 million kiloliters 31.4 million barrels while use of liquefied natural gas is expected to reach about 7.3 million tons, which is the capacity of its facilities.
The companyÂ’s maximum supply capacity this summer without nuclear power is estimated at 23.98 million kilowatts, the presentation said. ThatÂ’s 13.9 percent less than the 27.84 million kilowatts of peak electricity demand last summer in the Kansai region that includes the cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe.
Based on that forecast, the utility expects 41 days of power shortages between July and September.
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LONDON - National Grid has warned that Britain’s electricity will be in short supply over the next few days after a string of unplanned power plant outages and unusually low wind speeds this week.
The electricity system operator said it will take action to “make sure there is enough generation” during the cold weather spell to prevent a second major blackout in as many years.
“Unusually low wind output coinciding with a number of generator outages means the cushion of spare capacity we operate the system with has been reduced,” the company told its Twitter followers.
“We’re exploring measures and actions to make…
