JERA began preparations for the environmental impact assessment of its planned Sodegaura Thermal Power Station repowering project, it announced on June 18, 2025.
According to the statement, the company plans to replace the LNG-fired power plant’s four aging steam turbine units totaling 3.6GW and operating at about 43% thermal efficiency with three more efficient combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGT) totaling 2.6GW. Its recently commissioned Goi Thermal Power Station and other similar projects suggest thermal efficiency could increase to as high as 64% with the new equipment.
JERA plans to bring the new units online in phases starting FY2032 at the earliest, though no specific timeline has been disclosed.
Sodegaura Thermal Power Station began commercial operation in 1974 with a single 600MW unit, which has been offline since February 2023. TEPCO, the original operator of the power plant before it merged its thermal power business with Chubu Electric Power’s to form JERA, added 1GW Units 2, 3, and 4, all currently operational, in 1975, 1977, and 1979, respectively.
The power plant is one of JERA’s five LNG-fired assets in Chiba Prefecture. With its reduced carbon footprint post-repowering, the company and Sakura Internet may consider co-locating a data center at Sodegaura under their recently signed memorandum of understanding.
