TOKYO: Japan’s LNG imports are expected to fall 4.5% year on year to 85 million mt in the current fiscal year to March 31 and then are likely to drop 6.4% year on year to 79.6 million mt in fiscal 2016-17 (April-March), the Institute of of Energy Economics, Japan said Friday.
The forecast is based on the assumptions that five nuclear reactors will be back online by the end of March 2016, including Kyushu Electric’s two 890-MW Sendai nuclear reactors that already restarted in August and October, and seven more will restart by March 2017. For fiscal 2016-17, nuclear output is expected to be 61.8 billion kWh, up from an estimated 10.6 billion kWh for the current fiscal year, IEEJ said.
Solar power is also likely to dent LNG imports as its electricity generation picks up to 115.7 billion kWh in fiscal 2016-17, from an estimated 102.8 billion kWh in the current fiscal year. By March 2017, renewables, nuclear and hydropower are projected to represent more than 20% of overall power generation in Japan, up from about 10% in fiscal 2014-15, IEEJ said.
