Our company's view on the article in New York Times on 22 July 20232023/07/28
The New York Times recently ran an article, “Japan Says It Can Make Coal Cleaner. Critics Say Its Plan Is ‘Almost Impossible.’” on 22 July 2023. We feel it necessary to provide our view to clarify some inaccuracies in the article.
1. JERA is using ammonia to reduce coal usage and CO2 emissions.
The main reason that JERA is substituting ammonia for coal is to reduce CO2 emissions. Using less coal means fewer CO2 emissions. JERA does not intend to blend ammonia with coal to market as “clean coal.”
2. JERA has begun expanding the ammonia supply chain to meet global demand for low carbon energy solutions.
Once it starts commercial operation of 20% co-firing, the volume of ammonia required for generating use will be reasonable amount, and JERA believes it is necessary to build a new ammonia supply chain for fuel use, so that it would not affect the current ammonia market for fertilizer use. JERA is actively taking steps to expand production of fuel ammonia and will be involved from upstream to downstream as a whole value chain. JERA has started collaborating with ammonia manufacturers regarding the procurement and development of clean ammonia. For more detail, please refer to the below.
3. JERA has plan for generating low carbon “blue or green” ammonia
After the commercial operation of 20% ammonia co-firing in the latter half of the 2020s, JERA expects to use blue or green ammonia, which does not emit or significantly reduces CO2 during the ammonia production process. In addition, JERA intends to shift to thermal power plants using 100% ammonia as fuel by 2050, which is “zero-emission thermal power generation”.
4. JERA strongly believes that it is critically important to create diverse options for achieving a realistic energy transition
Energy situation is different for each country and region, such as the presence of regional transmission lines or gas pipelines and the types of renewable energy that could be adopted. JERA believes that it is essential to promote decarbonization based on the optimal approach for each country and region. Using low-carbon fuels for power generation is one promising option for decarbonization and has been validated by esteemed international organizations like IEA. As stated in the corporate vision, JERA aims to scale up its clean energy platform of renewables and low carbon thermal power to provide clean and stable power and sparking sustainable development worldwide.
The Role of Low-Carbon Fuels in the Clean Energy Transitions of the Power Sector – Analysis - IEA