Shikoku Electric Power is considering adding an approximately 600MW LNG-fired combined cycle turbine to its Sakaide Thermal Power Station in Sakaide City, Kagawa Prefecture, to bring its total capacity to 1.99GW, the company announced on February 3, 2025.
According to the company’s statement, Shikoku EPCO submitted a “planning-stage document on primary environmental impact consideration” to METI, Kagawa Prefecture, and Sakaide City to start the environmental impact assessment process.
The document shows that Shikoku EPCO plans to start construction of the unit, which will be the power plant’s fifth, in FY2027. It expects construction to take approximately four years and aims to commission the turbine in FY2031. Prior to starting construction, the project will need to go through the environmental impact assessment methodology, draft report, and final report stages while addressing feedback from officials and the public.
Sakaide Thermal Power Station first started operation in 1970 with a single coke oven gas-fired 34MW gas turbine, which was taken out of service in 2007. The power plant’s first oil-fired unit, the 195MW Unit 1, was commissioned in 1971. It was followed by a 350MW Unit 2, 450MW Unit 3, and 350MW Unit 4 in 1972, 1973, and 1974, respectively.
The original Unit 1 was taken out of service in 2007 and replaced by a 296MW LNG-fired unit commissioned in 2010. The original Unit 2 was decommissioned in 2015 and replaced by a 289MW LNG-fired unit commissioned in 2016. Unit 4 was converted from oil-fired to LNG-fired in 2010. With that, the power plant currently has four operational units totaling 1.39GW.
The power plant is the largest of Shikoku EPCO’s four thermal power plants, which also include the 450MW Anan Power Station, the 700MW Tachibanawan Power Station, and the 750MW Saijo Power Station. All three use coal or oil with Saijo also co-firing woody biomass.
