There are two topics I would like to cover today. The first is electricity
supply and demand during the past summer, and the second is the Environmental
Action Plan for Electric Power Providers.
With regard to electricity supply and demand, although the Pacific high-pressure
front weakened briefly in early August, summer temperatures were on the
whole much higher than average.
Reference Document 1, Graph 1 shows temperature fluctuations by region
for the July-August period. As the data shows, the high temperature and
average temperature were generally both 1~2 higher than in an average
year. At the bottom of the graph, the number of torrid summer days and
nights are shown for 10 major cities. Excepting data for torrid days in
Naha, and torrid nights in Sapporo, Sendai and Naha, the number of torrid
days and nights was significantly higher than in an average year.
As is shown in Reference Document 1, Table 2, record peak loads were recorded
in Hokkaido, Tohoku, Hokuriku, Chugoku and Okinawa (summer figures only
for Hokkaido). In addition, the peak load for all companies on Friday,
August 25 was 17.307 billion kW, a 1.1% increase of 1.94 million kW over
the previous all-time high recorded in 1995. Record daily totals were also
marked in Hokkaido, Tohoku, Tokyo, Chubu, Hokuriku and Chugoku (summer
figures only for Hokkaido), and the record for daily totals across all
10 companies was renewed four times this summer alone, advancing on an
annual basis for third straight year.
With regard to our supply capacity, strengthened output capacity enabled
us to maintain a stable supply throughout the summer despite some unplanned
stoppages caused by problems at nuclear power facilities.
It seems that in California, which also experienced very hot weather this
summer, the fact that market liberalisation has slowed the pace of new
facilities investment resulted in a very difficult supply situation. Seeing
media reports on the problem there brought home the importance of maintaining
a stable power supply. In many respects, this summer's hot weather was
a good thing, because it served to remind us of the potential problems
we face.
In addition to record high demand, this summer presented us with one other
area of concern -damage wrought by thunderstorms. Across the 10 FEPC companies,
there were 3329 power transmission line incidents, which is more than double
the annual average of 1501 recorded over the past 10 years. In fact, this
year has been notable for the number of natural disasters that have occurred
- heavy rains and flooding in the Tokai region, the eruption of Mt. Usu,
as well as the earthquakes and eruptions on Miyake Island. As public utility
providers charged with the task of maintaining a steady power supply, we
have had to continually be prepared.
I would now like to turn to the annual review of the Environmental Action
Plan for Public Power Providers. The Plan addresses the problems of global
warming and the creation of a more environmentally friendly society, and
is reviewed each year in light of domestic and overseas trends and results
to date. This was the third annual review; an overview is shown in Reference Document 2.
The main points can be summarised as follows: CO2 production per 1kWh of
household electricity use rose by 0.01kg to 0.37kg in 1999. This was primarily
due to the fact that during the same period, household electricity use
rose by 18 billion kWh (approximately 2.2%) to 817 billion kWh, while nuclear-generated
power declined by 16 billion kWh. Compared to the benchmark year of 1990,
however, CO2 production has declined by 0.05kg - a reduction of 12%.
Reductions in CO2 output attributable to nuclear, LNG thermal, and hydro
generation are estimated at approximately 410 million tons. Nuclear power
alone accounted for a reduction of approximately 230 million tons, an amount
that corresponds to 20% of the entire nation's CO2 output in 1997. From
the standpoint of the global environment, we are reminded again of the
importance of nuclear power promotion.
From an international standpoint, although Japan has a higher CO2 output
level than Canada, with its vast hydro power resources, or France, with
its extensive nuclear power resources, our output level is only 65% of
that of most leading European and American nations.
As you know, our goal for the year 2010 is to reduce CO2 output by 20%
of the 1990 benchmark. Despite lengthy delays in the siting process for
new nuclear power facilities, we plan to achieve our goal by increasing
the nuclear power utilisation rate and thermal power plant efficiency,
and by considering various thermal power-management methods that achieve
full implementation of the Kyoto mechanisms.
With regard to waste output, which by 2001 is expected to almost double
to 11 million tons for the industry as a whole, our goal is to hold output
at the 1990 level of 2.4 million tons. In 1999, 7.17 million tons of waste
were produced. Although this represented an increase of 520,000 tons on
the previous year, waste recycling was increased by 880,000 tons to reach
5.81 million tons. As a result, final waste disposal declined by 360,000
tons to 1.36 million tons, and recycling efficiency of over 80% - twice
the national average - was achieved. Most of gains resulted from the recycling
of coal-fired thermal power plant waste into raw materials for cement and
concrete fill material. Although production of coal waste was high at 4.79
million tons, 76% of the total - some 3.66 million tons - was recycled.
In the future, we will strive to maintain and improve thermal-generating
efficiency, and develop efficient new ways to regularly utilise large amounts
of coal ash in an all-out effort to achieve our 2010 targets.
New legislation to promote better chemical substance management will take
effect in April of 2001. The legislation will call for mandatory tracking
of chemical handling and disposal. In advance of this, the electric power
industry is releasing its 1999 chemical substance handling and disposal
records for 15 of the 354 designated chemicals, including freon and asbestos,
that will be covered by the new law.
The power industry has long-established guidelines for the management of
designated chemical substances contained in generating plant fuels, boiler
water, and water-treatment agents. With regard to chemical substances such
as freon and other ozone-depleting chemicals used for cooling and cleaning
operations, we are reducing use, preventing runoff, and implementing various
recycling and replacement schemes. In the future, we will continue to improve
chemical substance management and monitoring accuracy to reduce the environmental
impact of all designated chemicals.
As I have stated, the issues that the power industry faces are numerous
and complex, but we consider environmental issues one of our top management
priorities, and will continue to address such issues aggressively and proactively
in the future.