
Tohoku Electric Power Company announced it decommissioned Akita Thermal Power Station’s aging 600MW Unit 4 on July 1, 2024. The unit was primarily used during peak summer and winter periods.
Unit 4 was the last operational unit of the power plant which, at its peak, had four units with a combined capacity of 1.65GW. With the power plant being completely out of service now, the power plant site is scheduled to be decommissioned around October 2024.
Akita Thermal Power Station entered into service in August 1970 when its first, 350MW unit was commissioned. The power plant’s Units 2 and 3, both 350MW, were commissioned in 1972 and 1974 respectively. Unit 4 was commissioned in 1980 and, at 600MW, was the power plant’s largest. All four units were powered by heavy oil and crude oil. Unit 1 was decommissioned in 2003, followed by Units 3 and 2 in 2019 and 2020.
In addition to the original four units, a fifth unit was commissioned at the power plant in June 2012 as an emergency response to the shortage of capacity due to damage resulting from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Unlike the original units, the 333MW Unit 5 was fueled using light oil. It was decommissioned in March 2019.