The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday that it plans to earmark Y10 billion to subsidize in-house power generation by large-scale power users as part of efforts to narrow a power supply-demand gap expected this summer in areas hit by last month's massive earthquake and tsunami.

The subsidy program will be made available to any entity in commercial areas supplied by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.TO) and Tohoku Electric Power Co. (9506.TO) that generates at least 500 additional kilowatts, thus displacing consumption from one of the utilities.

METI plans to fund a proportion--one-third for large businesses and half for smaller businesses--of the set-up and fuel purchase costs for new, revived or expanded generation facilities.

The Cabinet is expected to approve the plan on April 28 as a part of the country's supplementary budget for quake relief.

The March 11 quake and tsunami knocked out many power stations on the Pacific coast of Japan 's northeast, including the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The two utilities have been scrambling to revive their damaged thermal power stations, while setting up large number of gas turbines to temporarily boost generation capacity. Nevertheless, a supply deficit of more than 10 gigawatts is expected this summer.

Διαβάστε ακόμα