Tohoku Electric Power Company is Japan's Hardest-Hit Power Provider

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources East Asia (Kofu-shi, Japan)--Among Japan's power providers affected by Friday's earthquake, Tohoku Electric Power Company Incorporated (TYO:9506 ) (Tokuden) (Sendai, Japan) was hit hardest. Immediately following the earthquake, nearly 5 million households were without power, and the region lost nearly 20 gigawatts (GW) of capacity. Tokuden's service area is comprised of the Tohoku region, the northern part of the main island. This region includes Aomori prefecture, Iwate prefecture, Akita prefecture, Miyagi prefecture, Yamagata prefecture, Fukushima prefecture and Niigata prefecture.

At this time, approximately 550,000 households are still without power, including 325,000 that have been completely destroyed by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. The Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures were hit hardest.

Because of what was expected to be a severe imbalance between power supply and demand, Tokuden announced its intention to implement rolling blackouts on Monday, March 14. However there has been a decrease in demand and an increase in supply, counteracting the imbalance in capacity. Recent precipitation in the region has also increased the electrical output of hydropower stations owned and operated by Tohoku that have been restarted for the spring season. The prospect of rolling blackouts is steadily becoming less likely due to a larger-than-expected supply, the widespread devastation and conservation measures. On Thursday, March 17, Tohoku expects to have 10 GW of electricity available for its service area.

Onagawa nuclear power station, located in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, as well as Higashidori nuclear power station, located in eastern Aomori prefecture, remain offline. Onagawa has an operating capacity of 2,174 megawatts (MW), and units 1 and 3 safely powered down following the earthquake and achieved stability by 1:30 a.m. JST Saturday, March 12. Unit 2 was scheduled to resume operations on Friday, following a scheduled maintenance outage that began last November. Restart procedures were terminated immediately, and the unit was safely powered down.

Higashidori, with a generating capacity of 1,100 MW via one boiling water reactor, was also down for scheduled maintenance and was not active at the time of the earthquake. Maintenance began in February and Tohoku may bring the station up to full capacity by the end of July.

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