The 1.25GW Kobelco Moka gas power station located in Moka city is the first inland gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Japan.
The two-unit facility is owned and operated by Kobelco Power Moka, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kobe Steel, a major Japanese steel manufacturer based in Chuo-ku, Kobe.
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Construction of the power station started in mid-2016, while unit one commenced operations in October 2019, followed by the commissioning of unit two in March 2020.
Location and site details
The Kobelco gas power station is built on a 9ha-site adjacent to Kobe Steel’s Moka plant in the Moka-5 industrial park in Moka city, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.
The project site is located approximately 50km inland from the shore of the Pacific Ocean.
Plant make-up
The Kobelco Moka gas power station comprises two combined-cycle units of 624MW capacity each.
Each unit is equipped with a Siemens SGT5-8000H gas turbine, a steam turbine, a heat recovery steam generator, and an air-cooled condenser.
Fitted with Siemens H-class gas turbines, Kobelco Moka power plant features one of the highest levels of combined-cycle electricity generating efficiency in Japan.
The rated capacity of SGT5-8000H gas turbine in simple cycle operation is 450MW. It provides a combined-cycle efficiency of 61%.
Feed gas supply
The power station uses city gas supply through a 2.9km pipeline extension of the Ibaraki-Tochigi gas pipeline that extends for approximately 79.9km from the Tokyo Gas Company’s Hitachi LNG terminal in Ibaraki Prefecture.
The 26in-diametre Ibaraki-Tochigi gas pipeline entered service in March 2016.
Tokyo Gas Company entered into a gas supply agreement with Kobelco Power Moka in September 2014.
Power evacuation
The electricity generated by the Kobelco Moka gas power station is evacuated through the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) transmission network.
Power purchase agreement
Tokyo Gas Company signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Kobe Steel in September 2014 to buy 1.25GW of electricity from the Kobelco Moka gas power station for a period of 15 years.
Contractors involved with the Kobelco Moka gas power project
Fuji Electric Company was awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract by Kobe Steel for the Kobelco Moka gas power plant in 2014.
Fuji Electric subcontracted German engineering group Siemens for the supply of two H-class gas turbines for the power station in November 2014.
Mott Macdonald provided technical advisory services including technology evaluation, economic risk identification, construction monitoring and technical due diligence for the Kobelco Moka gas power plant in 2013.
