supply before the Fukushima (Fig. 1) [2, 3]. Due to the declined utilization of
nuclear power since the Fukushima accident, the fraction of fossil fuel over total
power generation reached at the highest level (94.4% in January 2014) in the last
three decades (Fig. 2) [3].
Substantial increase in LNG and petroleum is attributed to power generation to
offset the decline in nuclear power generation after the accident. In particular, a
radical shift to LNG occurred to compensate the loss of nuclear. Currently,
LNG-fired power accounts for almost half of the power generation mix in Japan
(Fig. 1) and LNG becomes an essential fuel in the Japanese energy supply portfolio.
Actually, Japan’s LNG imports increased from 70.5 million tons (MT) in FY 2010
to 83.2 MT in FY 2011, 86.9 MT in FY 2012, 87.7 MT in FY 2013 and 89.1 MT in
FY 2014 [1]. Growing LNG consumption has caused an increase in import payments for LNG (Fig. 3) [4, 5], electricity supply cost, dependence on Middle East
for LNG supply (Fig. 4) and CO 2 emissions, and has provided a decline in the
country’s energy self-sufficiency. Figure 3 shows Japan’s annual imports of LNG.
Japan’s import payments for LNG in 2014 were a record high at 7.9 trillion yen,
26 29 29
11
2
1
0
25
25 25
25
28 30 31
28
29 29
40
43 43 46
12
7
8
14 18 15 11
9
9
10 10 10 11 12
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Share
of Each Generator
Hydro etc.
Petroleum
LNG
Coal
Nuclear
Fig. 1 Annual power
generation mix in Japan [2, 3]
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
(TWh) or ( %)
Solar
Wind
Thermal
Nuclear
Geothermal
Hydro
% of Therma
Thermal
Nuclear
Hydro
Fukushima
Fig. 2 Monthly power
generation mix in Japan [3]
100
R. Komiyama