On February 27, 2025, Hokuriku Electric Power Co. announced that it will retire by FY2028 Toyama Shinko Power Station Coal Unit 1 (250MW), which had been planned to be shut down by FY2024. This is the second time the company has postponed the plant’s retirement, having previously announced in 2017 that it would delay the plant’s retirement from the originally planned 2018 to 2024. The company has postponed the termination of coal-fired power generation for six years, with the latest announcement to postpone it for an additional four years making it a decade of maintaining coal-fired power generation.
In addition to the damage caused by the January 2024 earthquake, the Noto Peninsula also felt first-hand the effects of climate change in September, when it was hit by torrential rains. Any action that accelerates climate change is simply unacceptable.

When Hokuriku Electric Power announced its plans to build LNG-fired Unit 1, it took measures to simplify the environmental impact assessment by saying that it would be replacing Coal Unit 1. However, LNG Unit 1 began operation in November 2018, and the promise to retire Coal Unit 1 has not been upheld.

Despite this, the following reasons were given for postponing the unit’s retirement an additional four years:

1. The 7th Strategic Energy Plan anticipates a future increase in energy demand from data centers and semiconductor plants, and there is a possibility that the same trend will be seen in the Hokuriku area.
2. In terms of fuel procurement, the global energy resource situation is unstable and uncertain due Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the worsening situation in the Middle East.
3. Hokuriku Electric Power’s Shika Nuclear Power Station Unit 2 is currently under review to confirm compliance with new regulatory standards, and although the company has begun considering a plan to construct the Toyama Shinkou Power Station LNG Unit 2 as a new “low-carbon thermal power source”, it is not in a position to ensure sufficient supply capacity in the short term.
4. The 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake caused severe damage to Nanao Ohta Power Station Units 1 and 2, resulting in an unplanned long-term suspension.

Hokuriku Electric Power claims that, based on this, it is extremely difficult to retire Toyama Shinko Power Station Coal Unit 1 under the current circumstances. However, Nanao Ohta Power Station Units 1 and 2 were restarted on July 2, 2024 and May 10, 2024, respectively, and so their long-term unplanned suspension cannot be considered a valid reason.

Another factor behind Hokuriku Electric Power’s inability to break away from its dependence on thermal power is the lack of prospects for nuclear power. The Noto Peninsula earthquake impacted the Shika Nuclear Power Plant more than expected, making the possibility of restarting operations even more uncertain. If extending the life of coal-fired power plants is approved under these circumstances, many coal-fired power plants will remain in place to make up for the nuclear power plants that cannot be restarted.
　
As a result, Japan’s dependence on nuclear and thermal power is prolonging the life of coal-fired power plants. During this period, the company could have accelerated its shift away from coal-fired power generation by prioritizing measures such as increasing renewable energy, storage batteries, and the flexibility of grid interconnection.

Currently, Hokuriku Electric Power is planning to construct a new LNG Unit 2 at the Toyama Shinko Power Station, and is currently releasing an Environmental Impact Assessment Consideration Report. The size of the plant will amount to 600 MW, larger than the combined capacity of Coal Unit 1 and 2, and its CO2 emissions will be enormous. How long will this dependence on nuclear and fossil energy continue?

Thermal power plants operated by Hokuriku Electric Power Co.

Power Plant	Unit	Fuel	Capacity (MW)	Start of Operation	Location
Toyama Thermal Power	Unit 4	Heavy oil	250	Jan. 1971	Toyama city, Toyama
Toyama Shinko Thermal Power	Unit 1 Unit 2 Coal Unit 1 Coal Unit 2 LNG Unit 1	Heavy oil, crude oil Heavy oil, crude oil, LNG Coal Coal LNG	240 500 250 250 424.7	Oct. 1974 Nov. 1981 Sep. 1971 Jun. 1972 Nov. 2018	Izumi city, Toyama
Nanao Ohta Thermal Power	Unit 1 Unit 2	Coal Coal, Biomass	500 700	Mar. 1995 Jul. 1998	Nanao city, Ishikawa
Fukui Thermal Power	Mikuni Unit 1	Heavy oil	250	Sep. 1978	Sakai city, Fukui
Tsuruga Thermal Power	Unit 1 Unit 2	Coal Coal, Biomass	500 700	Oct. 1991 Sep. 2000	Tsuruga city, Fukui
Total Capacity			4,564.7

Reference (Hokuriku Electric’s release about Toyama Shinko Power Plant, written in Japanese)

北陸電力「富山新港火力発電所 石炭１号機の廃止計画について」（2025年２月27日）（PDF)
北陸電力「富山新港火力発電所 石炭１号機の廃止延期について」（2017年12月7日 ）（PDF)