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Japan’s top power generator, JERA, aims to start demonstration of co-firing 20 per cent of ammonia with coal at a large commercial power plant in central Japan at around March, its president said on Wednesday.
The company has said it will begin demonstration at its 1 gigawatt No.4 unit in Hekinan thermal power station in the financial year ending March 31, 2024.
“We are on track. We’ll start demonstration tests at around March,” President Hisahide Okuda told a news conference.
The project, which started in 2021 with small volumes of ammonia at another unit at Hekinan, is aimed at cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by using cleaner fuels.
It will be the world’s first trial in which a large amount of ammonia will be used with coal at a large commercial plant.
Ammonia is mainly made from hydrogen produced from natural gas and nitrogen from the air. It does not emit CO2 when burned, but its production releases emissions if it is made with fossil fuels.
“Our focus now is on safety measures. Ammonia is a deleterious toxic substance, so we are taking considerable and thorough measures,” Okuda said.
Development is also underway to increase the ammonia use to more than 50 per cent, with a plan of demonstration test at an actual power plant in 2028/29 financial year and start commercial operation in the early 2030s, he said.
JERA is set to secure one cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) each month for the country’s strategic LNG buffer (SBL)this winter in preparation for the heating season.
The LNG market will remain slack due to a warm winter, high inventories in Europe and a slow economy in China, but the prices could jump if a problem occurs at any LNG plant since the overall global supply has not grown, Okuda said.
Asked about congestion at the Panama Canal, Okuda said there has been no impact on JERA’s LNG procurement, while noting Japan’s biggest LNG buyer is closely watching the situation.
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