By Max Sato
(MaceNews) – The Japanese government issued a rare warning of power shortages in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures, urging businesses and households to cut electricity use by 10%, starting Tuesday, as heating demand is rising and supply is falling after last week’s major earthquake.
The Japan Meteorological Agency is forecasting cold weather with rain and snow in parts of the Tokyo metropolitan area.
The warning entails the worst power supply in eastern Japan since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown at nuclear power plants operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) in Fukushima, forcing scheduled power cuts in Tokyo and other cities.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake (upgraded from an initial reading of 7.3) off Fukushima shook the northeastern Japanese region of Tohoku on Wednesday night, causing power cuts in wide regions including Tokyo about 400 km to the southwest, derailing trains, killing four people and injuring more than 200.
The earthquake measuring 6+ on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 0 to 7 hit Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures at 2336 JST (0936 EDT), triggering automatic safety shutdowns at thermal power plants operated by Tohoku Electric Power Co. and inflicting damage to some coal loading facilities along the Pacific coast.
TEPCO’s own thermal power plant at Hirono Town in Fukushima also saw two of its seven units down but one of them has resumed operation.
TEPCO said Monday that electricity supply in eastern Japan is very tight, thanks to continued shutdowns of some thermal power plants after the earthquake and lower solar power generation during bad weather. The company said it is “unlikely to meet an estimated demand” on Tuesday despite its efforts to buy electricity from other firms and boost thermal power generation.
The company is urging people to turn off unnecessary lights and keep thermostat settings to 20 degrees Centigrade or lower at workplaces and homes, starting Tuesday morning. It serves the capital and seven neighbouring prefectures mostly in the Kanto region as well as a part of Shizuoka to the west.
Until the 2011 Fukushima meltdown, Japan had regarded nuclear as a key source of power generation to meet 30% of its electricity needs and used thermal power to respond to peak time demand.
But now that the country’s dependence on nuclear power is just about 5% and it already relies heavily on burning fossil fuels, mostly coal and natural gas, for over 70% of its power generation, it would be difficult to boost thermal power generation further amid tight global supplies and surging energy prices.
Japanese manufacturers are on shaky ground after overcoming the impact of delayed parts supply from Southeast Asia where the Delta variant caused lockdowns last August.
Carmakers and electronics firms are still struggling to meet reopening demand amid lingering global semiconductor shortages and logistical constraints.
The earthquake on March 16 is forcing Toyota Motor to suspend a total of 18 lines at its 11 factories in Japan for up to three days, effective Monday, as its parts suppliers sustained damage. It temporarily halted production at two Tohoku plants last week.
Subaru also stopped production for two days through Monday at its two factories making vehicles and another one for engines and transmission, all located in Gunma Prefecture north of Tokyo.
At the start of March, Toyota had to suspend all factory operations in Japan for a day after one of its key parts suppliers was hit by a cyberattack. The government had warned against the threat of cyberattacks in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The incident came shortly after Tokyo joined its allies in imposing further economic sanctions on Russia but it is unknown whether the two events are linked.
Japan’s industrial production posted the second straight drop, down 1.3% on month in January, slipping after a record 7.0% rise in November, as a spike in Omicron-led coronavirus cases caused some auto factories to suspend operations and supply shortages lingered.
Economists expect a modest rise in production in February similar to the government’s conservative estimate of a 0.7% rebound. The official forecast for March is a slight 0.1% rise in production but that is uncertain now that the effects of the earthquake are making supply bottlenecks worse.