Summary of Comments Made at a Press Conference
by Tsunehisa Katsumata, FEPC Chairman, on September 14, 2007
There are two topics I would like to report on today. The first is this summer’s
electricity supply and demand. The second is a strengthened initiative to secure
a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste.
First, with regard to this summer’s electricity supply and demand, peak demand
across the 10 companies reached 179.28 million kW on August 22, the
third-highest such figure on record. Individually, six companies recorded an
all-time high in their peak demand.
Maximum daily consumption across the 10 companies on August 22 was
3.42887 billion kWh, the highest it has been since 2001. Individually, four
companies recorded an all-time high in maximum daily consumption.
The primary reason for this dramatic increase was the rise in demand for cooling
caused by high temperatures.
In July, there were many cloudy and rainy days, resulting in maximum
temperatures that were lower than in an average year in many areas. In August,
however, temperatures rose dramatically, with Kumagaya and Tajimi surpassing
the national high temperature record set 74 years ago, and 101 meteorological
monitoring stations reporting the highest local temperatures ever.
During the heat of day, even a 1°C rise in temperature results in an increase in
nationwide peak demand of approximately 4.7 million kW, an amount equal to
the peak demand of Ibaraki prefecture. This August was notable for the number
of days when the temperature exceeded 35°C, with an average of 7.4 such days
across 10 major cities, 4.3 days more than in an average year.
Large industrial user demand, which reflects economic trends, rose in July,
marking the 24th consecutive month of an upward trend that began in August
2005. Although detailed analysis is not yet complete, we believe the strength of
the economy also helped to buoy demand.
I would now like to take this opportunity to report on summer electricity demand
as president of Tokyo Electric Power Company.
With all of the reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant shut
down as a result of the Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake on July 16, the summer
supply and demand situation was extremely critical for Tokyo Electric Power
Company, and caused great concern to all.
Although we managed to weather the storm of summer demand, we owe a debt
of gratitude to many of our customers for their power conservation efforts, and to
the self-generators and other electric power companies who helped supply us
with additional electricity. I would like to take this opportunity to express my
heartfelt thanks to you all.
Let me quickly review the supply and demand situation this summer at Tokyo
Electric Power Company.
Looking at maximum temperature and maximum power demand trends,
temperatures were significantly above average, and there was a corresponding
increase in peak demand.
At 3PM on August 22 we recorded this summer’s highest peak demand of 61.47
million kW.
To respond to the sudden increase in demand we experienced that day, we
implemented an urgent purchase of 1.5 million kW from other power companies,
over and above the supplementary supply measures we already had in place to
meet summer demand. We also invoked the terms of load management
contracts for the first time since 1990 (17 years ago) and, with the cooperation of
23 customers, were able to reduce demand by 140,000 kW.
In addition, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport granted
emergency interim permission to bring the Shiobara Power Plant online. This,
together with the other measures, gave us access to a total of 64 million kW that
enabled us to get through the situation.
Although it was a very tough summer from a supply and demand standpoint,
maximum power demand actually fell below previous records for the sixth
consecutive year. We believe the reason it did not reach previous levels was due
to customer cooperation in power conservation efforts, coupled with the fact that
some customers have switched to other power suppliers.
That, then, was the supply and demand situation at Tokyo Electric Power
Company this summer. I would now like to comment on the supply and demand
outlook for the coming winter.
We currently foresee possible peak demand of about 54 million kW this winter.
On the supply side, we currently believe we can meet that demand, but it may
require full use of all available resources, including older thermal plants. As such,
we are making careful preparations, and are asking customers to continue to
cooperate in power conservation efforts.
I would now like to comment on strengthened efforts to secure a site for final
disposal of high-level radioactive waste.
As you know, the Radioactive Waste Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee
for Energy has announced strengthened measures aimed at increasing public
understanding and awareness of the final disposal project.
The final disposal project is being carried out by NUMO, the Nuclear Waste
Management Organization of Japan, and the newly announced measures have
been strengthened to reflect lessons learned in Toyochou and other areas. The
measures suggest that government should play a frontline role in the call for
municipalities to volunteer as candidate siting areas, and in commissioning
surveys of existing literature regarding candidate sites. The measures also note
that the government, NUMO, and electric power suppliers should work together
and strive to expand their public hearing and public relations efforts among the
nation’s citizens.
From the standpoint of electric power suppliers who produce nuclear waste, we
have until now supported NUMO with human resources and information about
regional circumstances, but in light of the strengthened measures, we will work
even more closely with the government and NUMO, and strengthen our public
relations and NUMO support activities even further.
At this morning’s General Policy Committee meeting, we therefore set up a
Geological Repository Promotion Headquarters within the FEPC, and appointed
a five-member team to begin activities.
Specific plans are now being developed, and the FEPC will aggressively
conduct public relations activities nationwide to increase public understanding
and awareness of the safety of final disposal, and of the selection process for
candidate sites. In addition, we will cooperate with individual electric power
companies in supporting regional NUMO activities aimed at increasing public
understanding.
