TOKYO, April 3 (UPI) -- Nippon Oil Corp. said it will work to build a new thermal power plant in eastern Japan.
Nippon will partner with Tokyo Gas Co. on the effort to construct the new natural gas plant in Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture.
One of the generators started operating earlier this week, while the second generator is expected to be operational by October, Nippon said.
The two generators are expected to have a combined output capacity of 847,400 kilowatts, making it the largest natural gas-fired power plant in Japan run by a non-electricity company.
The plant will also run at a power generation efficiency rate of 57.6 percent -- one of the highest in Japan -- and the use of natural gas reduces emissions of carbon dioxide as well.
Electricity generated at the plants will be split between Nippon Oil and Tokyo Gas according to their investment ratios. Nippon Oil owns 51 percent of the plant and Tokyo Gas holds the remaining 49 percent.
Any excess electricity will be sold Tokyo Electric Power Co., which is struggling to ensure stable supplies since its flagship Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in Niigata prefecture was damaged by a powerful earthquake in July 2007.
