Tohoku loses 400 MW of output due to repair work

Japanese utility Tohoku Electric Power Co said on Thursday it has lost 400 megawatts of power output due to extended work on a turbine at its gas-fired 1,700-MW Higashi-Niigata plant.

The company said it expects the unit to resume full operations around Dec. 1, after it replaces a turbine wing at the No.4 series unit.

Tohoku on Tuesday resumed getting surplus power, totalling 700 MW, from neighboring utilities Tokyo Electric Power Co and Hokkaido Electric Power Co for the first time since the summer, as power demand spiked due to chilly winter weather.

The northern utility has been struggling to secure enough power supplies on its own after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged several nuclear and fossil-fuel fired plants.

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