Kyushu Electric restarts 500MW oil unit

Kyushu Electric Power had resumed normal operations at its 500 megawatt oil-fired Sendai No.2 unit after it was closed due to steam leaking from a boiler.

The southern Japanese utility also said it plans to start normal operations at its 600 MW gas-fired Shin-Kokura No.4 unit in a few days, reports Reuters.

The unit was shut on March 6 due to problems with a turbine. The number of problems at fossil fuel plants has increased in the last few months as many facilities are running at unusually high utilisation rates to make up for the loss of nuclear power generation in the wake of the Fukushima atomic crisis.