POWER May 2021 - 10

GLOBAL MONITOR
donesia that operates coal-fired plants.
Japan has been criticized for continuing
to give state support to export coalfired
power plants in the form of loans
from the Japan Bank for International
Cooperation (JBIC). Japan in July 2020
tightened its criteria for backing such
projects, with government officials saying
financial and other support would
only be given to countries that are making
efforts to reduce carbon emissions,
and to those that must have coal-fired
generation due to financial reasons. The
stricter criteria, which include a numerical
requirement for power generation efficacy,
are included in a new government
strategy regarding infrastructure exports
for the five years from 2021. JBIC Gov.
Tadashi Maeda in March said the staterun
lender has no immediate plans to finance
any new coal-fired power projects.
The moves in Japan echo those of other
major economies, including the U.S.,
where at least six major banks in the
past two months have adopted net-zero
emissions goals, saying they will align
their financing activities to the Paris climate
accord. Japanese firms have accelerated
their withdrawal from coal-related
projects after the country's prime minister,
Yoshihide Suga, in October 2020
said Japan had a target to decarbonize
its economy by 2050. Shinjiro Koizumi,
Japan's environment minister, earlier this
year urged companies to withdraw their
support for coal, saying after a late-February
meeting of government officials, " I
want strong public-private cooperation
so that we can demonstrate Japan's unwavering
resolve to decarbonize to the
international community. "
The U.S.-based Institute for Energy
Economics and Financial Analysis has
said more than 130 large banks and insurance
companies worldwide have placed
restrictions on coal-related investments.
Japan's move is an about-face for the
country, whose public and private sectors
for years encouraged the construction of
new coal-fired power plants outside its
borders, with officials saying it showed
support for emerging economies.
Japan, though, also has continued to
build new coal-fired generation at home;
government data showed companies are
planning to build 21 new coal-fired units
with total capacity of more than 12.5 GW
in the next decade, with more than 9 GW
of that total scheduled from now through
2023. As an example of the country both
closing old plants and building new ones,
J-Power last fall said it would close its old
coal-fired units by 2030, likely plants that
10
3. Electric Power Development Co. Ltd., better
known as J-Power, brought the new Unit
1 at the Takehara Thermal Power Plant online
in June 2020. The new unit, with 600 MW of
generation capacity, replaced two older units
that combined had the same capacity. Courtesy:
J-Power
came online prior to 1985. A company official
said the closures could affect about
40% of J-Power's coal-fired generation
capacity. However, J-Power brought two
new plants, with 1.2 GW of generation
capacity, online last summer (Figure 3),
and still has plans for more new coalfired
units.
The new decarbonization target, along
with the aforementioned criticism of Japan's
previous stance from the international
community, has put pressure on
the country's financial and energy sectors
to adjust their commitments to coalfired
generation. Japan has canceled
nearly 5 GW of new coal-fired units in
the past three years.
The Sojitz Group, one of Japan's leading
trading houses, in early March announced
it had " established new policies
and targets to fulfill its commitment for
realizing a decarbonized society " as part
of the company's " Sustainability Challenge, "
what it called a " long-term sustainability
vision for 2050. " Sojitz in a
statement said: " In recent years, global
warming has emerged as a new issue
of major importance and attention, and
the global trend towards carbon neutrality
has accelerated. Under these circumstances,
it is necessary to transition from
the simple use and supply of energy to
new ways of using and supplying green
energy. In order to achieve these aims,
Sojitz will accelerate efforts to reduce
CO2
zero by 2030, after originally planning to
halve its stakes in the thermal coal sector
by 2030. The group said it also will exit all
oil projects by 2030, and all coking coal
projects by 2050. Sojitz already divested
its stake in Indonesia's Bau thermal coal
mine, as well as its stake in Australia's
Moolarben coal mine.
Itochu, another Japanese trading
house, earlier said it plans to sell all its
stakes in thermal coal mining by mid2024.
The group in late February, as part
of its energy transition, said it has agreed
to a strategic collaboration on the development
of a hydrogen value chain with
Air Liquide Japan G.K., the Japanese subsidiary
of Air Liquide, the world's largest
industrial gas company, and Itochu Enex.
Itochu said it " will aim to accelerate the
development of sustainable energy systems
through these initiatives ... as one
of the basic policies of [the company's]
next medium-term management plan,
and achieve a low-carbon society. "
Though Mitsubishi pulled out of the
Vinh Tan 3 project, the company and the
Japanese government remain committed
to the Vung Ang 2 coal plant project
in Vietnam, in spite of investor backlash.
However, JBIC Gov. Tadashi Maeda,
in early March said the governmentowned
financial institution will stop financing
overseas coal-fired power plant
projects. He said Vung Ang 2, for which
the bank and other Japanese investors
are providing about $1.7 billion, will likely
be the last supported by the country's
private banks.
-Darrell Proctor is associate editor
for POWER.
POWER Digest
emissions for the Group's existing
businesses as preparation for the coming
age of a decarbonized society by increasing
the company's business resilience. "
Sojitz has said it plans a complete
withdrawal from thermal coal, oil, and
coking coal projects. It said it has a target
to reduce its stakes in thermal coal projects
by more than half by 2025, and to
www.powermag.com
Uzbekistan Wind Farm Project Expanding.
Masdar, a global renewable
energy company, has signed an agreement
with Uzbekistan's government to
extend the capacity of its utility-scale
wind farm project in the country up to
1.5 GW. H.E. Sardor Umurzakov, deputy
prime minister and minister of Investments
and Foreign Trade for Uzbekistan,
said at an April ceremony marking the
agreement, " Mobilization of renewable
energy potential in Uzbekistan would
provide a significant contribution to
sustainable economic growth and fighting
climate change. Along with that,
the expansion of clean power generation
capacities by Masdar will support
our objective to double the volume of
electricity generation by 2030. Masdar
will become a strong bridge connecting
our countries, through which new
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POWER May 2021

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