On April 27, 2018, J-POWER announced that a coal fired power plant replacement plan in Takasago, Hyogo was canceled.

It was planned to abolish the existing plant No.1 and No.2 (250MW each) and built two new plants (600MW each), which were to start their operation from 2021 and 2027, respectively. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was on its process since 2014 and was about to submit the third document under the EIA process. However, in 27th April, 2017, it was revealed that Takasago City Department of Living Environment was told by J-POWER that the submission of the next-step EIA document was delayed. Because of this, the plan had been seemed to be put in a freeze.

Local residents had been protesting against this project saying that the local government and city council should listen to their voice during the EIA process.

The cancellation of this project means huge amount of future CO2 emission (7 million tons per year) is prevented.

Reference: announcement by J-POWER (in Japanese)
高砂火力発電所新１･２号機設備更新計画の断念について（J−POWER）