is an oil-fired

thermal power station A thermal power station, also known as a thermal power plant, is a type of power station in which the heat energy generated from various fuel sources (e.g., coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, etc.) is converted to electrical energy. The heat ...

operated by Tohoku Electric in the city of

Akita, Akita is the capital and most populous Cities of Japan, city of Akita Prefecture, Japan, and has been designated a Core cities of Japan, core city since 1 April 1997. , the city has an estimated population of 300,502 persons in 136,628 households and a ...

, Japan. The facility is located overlooking the

Oga Peninsula The Oga Peninsula (男鹿半島 ''Oga-hantō'') is a rugged peninsula which projects west into the Sea of Japan from the coast of Akita in northern Honshū, the main island of Japan. Politically it coincides with the city A city is a human s ...

on the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

coast of

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

. It also conducts remote monitoring of the four

geothermal power plant Geothermal power is electricity generation, electrical power generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation i ...

s Tohokou Electric operates.

History

The Akita Thermal Power Station was built to provide baseline power to the Tohoku region of Japan, including

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is estimated 915,691 as of 1 August 2023 and its geographi ...

. Unit 1 came online in August 1970, followed by Unit 2 in February 1972, Unit 3 in November 1974 and Unit 4 in July 1980. Due to aging equipment and a decline in demand, Unit 1 was scrapped in December 2003. Unit 3 was likewise abolished in September 2019. Unit 2 has been taken offline for maintenance, but is not expected to restart. The remaining Unit 4 is also in the process of being phased out. Due to damage to the nation-wide grid caused by the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

, an emergency Unit 5 was rushed into operation in 2012. This unit was originally scheduled to be abolished in September 2018; however, due to unusually severe winter conditions and greater-than-anticipated demand, it was kept on line to Match 2019. After it was scrapped, the

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

used at this plant was sent to be installed at the Higashi Niigata Thermal Power Station, Unit 4–1.

Plant details

References

External links

{{commons category
Tohoku Electric list of major power stations
1970 establishments in Japan Oil-fired power stations in Japan Buildings and structures in Akita (city) Energy infrastructure completed in 1970

History

Plant details

See also

References

External links