Outline of Thermal Power

Generation

Role and Features

Electricity demand varies greatly by season and time of day.
Because thermal power generation can flexibly adapt to changes in
demand, it plays a central role in maintaining the power supply.
By combining various power sources, we can provide the quantity of
power required to accommodate demand for the season and time of
day.

Type of power supply Operational pattern

Much like nuclea

power is generate
Coal-fired thermal power Base-load operation output is constan
respond to powe

LNG-fired thermal power
These sources of
respond flexibly t
Base-to-middle-load operation power demand. T
daytime, stop at n
daily.

Oil-fired thermal power
These sources of
accommodate pe
They are operate
Middle-to-peak-load operation winter during per
Otherwise they re
ready to run at an
power when the

Basic Principle
The burning of fuels such as oil, coal and LNG (liquefied natural gas)
fires a boiler to generate high-temperature, high-pressure steam.
This steam is used to drive a steam turbine. A generator attached to
the steam turbine generates electricity.
 Types of Thermal Power Generation
Steam power generation

Fuels such as heavy oil, LNG (liquefied natural gas) and coal are
burned inside a boiler to generate steam at high temperature and
high pressure.
This steam is used to rotate the impeller of the steam turbine. This
drives the power generators connected to the turbine that generate
electricity.
This system has a thermal efficiency of around 42% to 46% and
functions as a base-to-middle-load supply.
Power stations utilizing steam power generation
Nanko Power Station
Maizuru Power Station
Ako Power Station
Aioi Power Station
Himeji No. 2 Power Station (Unit Nos. 5 & 6)
Kainan Power Station
Gobo Power Station
 Tanagawa No. 2 Power Station (Under a long-term
planned outage)
Miyazu Energy Research Center (Under a long-term
planned outage)
Combined cycle power generation

This method of generating electric power incorporates a gas turbine

whose waste heat is reused to drive a steam turbine. The gas turbine
is powered by high-temperature combustion gas that, after being
discharged from the gas turbine, is efficiently recovered by means of
a heat recovery boiler. This produces steam of sufficient
temperature and pressure to drive the steam turbine and generate
electricity. This configuration ensures high thermal efficiency, as the
cost per unit of power generated is lower than that of oil-fired
thermal power. It is used to provide the base-to-middle-load supply.
Power stations employing combined-cycle power
generation
Himeji No. 1 Power Station (Unit Nos. 5 & 6)
Himeji No. 1 Power Station (Unit Nos. 5 & 6)
Sakaiminato Power Station
Gas turbine power generation
This electricity generating system makes electricity by burning fuels
such as LNG (liquefied natural gas) or kerosene to produce high-
temperature combustion gases with sufficient energy to rotate a gas
turbine.