Kobe Steel Starts Moka Power Station

Kobelco Power Moka, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kobe Steel, has started commercially operating the No.1 unit of its new Moka gas-fired power station in Tochigi Prefecture near Tokyo, Kobe Steel said October 1.

The electricity is being supplied to Tokyo Gas, which supplies gas to this power station through a high-pressure pipeline. In 2014, Kobe Steel and Tokyo Gas entered into a memorandum of understanding for Kobe Steel to sell to Tokyo Gas all the electricity generated by the Moka power station. Electricity will be supplied for 15 years after the start of operations.

Kobe Steel said that the No. 2 unit will start commercial operations in the first half of 2020. Once fully operational, the power station will have two 600,000 kW-class gas turbine combined cycle plants that together will yield a generation capacity of 1.2mn kW.