JERA () is a 50-50

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between TEPCO Fuel & Power, a wholly owned subsidiary of

Tokyo Electric Power Company is a Japanese electric utility holding company servicing Japan's Kantō region, Yamanashi Prefecture, and the eastern portion of Shizuoka Prefecture. This area includes Tokyo. Its headquarters are located in Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, an ...

, and

Chubu Electric Power , abbreviated as Chuden in Japanese, is a Japanese electric utilities provider for the middle Chūbu region of the Honshu island of Japan. It provides electricity at 60 Hz, though an area of Nagano Prefecture uses 50 Hz. Chubu Electric ...

, founded in April 2015. The company assumed ownership and operation of all of Tokyo Electric and Chubu Electric

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 ...

s, giving it a total output of approximately 67 million kW (including capacity under construction), which made it Japan's largest power generation company. The electricity generated is wholesaled to retail electric utilities such as TEPCO Energy Partner and Chubu Electric Power, and is not supplied directly to consumers.

Background

The concept of JERA was floated immediately after the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which r ...

by a group of young managers within Tokyo Electric, who sought to separate the thermal power generation portion of the company from the nuclear sector (together with the legal and fiscal responsibility for the accident) to ensure Tokyo Electric's survival. The idea was vehemently opposed by Tokyo Electric's chairman; however, by 2012 Tokyo Electric was facing imminent bankruptcy over damage compensation claim and the costs of decommissioning the Fukushima nuclear plants, as well as high costs for fossil fuel to make up the power generation shortfall from its 17 idled nuclear reactors. In addition, many of its thermal power plants were obsolete, and with Tokyo Electric's plummeting credit rating, it was deemed unlikely and the necessary funding could be secured for revamping or construction. From March 2014, Tokyo Electric began to solicit partners for a strategic alliance. Meanwhile,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

-based Chubu Electric was eager to expand into the

Kanto region Japanese Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain *Kantō region * Kantō-kai, organized crime group * Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ''Pokém ...

and had been receiving many enquiries from Kanto-based users unhappy with Tokyo Electric's increasing rates. However, efforts to enter the Kanto region and to compete against Tokyo Electric were hampered by the Japanese government's unwritten regulations creating regional electric generation monopolies. Chubu Electric initially attempted to circumvent these regulations by building a new 650,000 kW coal-fired power generation facility on the premises of TEPCO's Hitachi Naka Thermal Power Station, with power generated by this plant to be sold by Tokyo Electric on its behalf. This led to further discussions in September 2014 for a comprehensive alliance on thermal power generation, and JERA was launched in April 2015. In November 2024, JERA announced its plan to restart coal and biomass co-firing at its Taketoyo thermal power station in central Japan around the beginning of April 2026. Jera will conduct coal-only operations during winter and summer starting around January 2025 to ensure a stable electric supply.

References

External links

* {{Utilities of Japan Tokyo Electric Power Company Chubu Electric Power Electric power companies of Japan Energy companies based in Tokyo Energy companies established in 2015 Non-renewable resource companies established in 2015 Japanese companies established in 2015