The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced that it will initiate a Working Group on Electricity Resilience on October 9, 2018. The working group was jointly established by the Electricity and Gas Basic Policy Subcommittee under the Electricity and Gas Industry Committee of the Advisory Committee for Natural Resources, and the Electric Power Safety Subcommittee under the Industrial Safety and Consumer Product Safety Committee of the Industrial Structure Council.

The 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake caused a large-scale power outage in the Hokkaido region. The local residents, the utility company, and the government worked together to reduce their energy usage in response to the situation. On September 18, the operation of Tomato-Atsuma Coal-Fired Power Plant Unit 1 resumed, which stabilized the electricity supply and demand.

METI established a third-party committee under the Organization for Cross-regional Coordination of Transmission Operators, Japan (OCCTO)[1] to identify the cause of the large-scale power outage and develop preventative measures for the future. An interim report is expected to be published by the end of October 2018. Meanwhile, the Ministerial Council on Emergency Inspection of Critical Infrastructure has decided to inspect the critical infrastructures across Japan, including electricity facilities, in November 2018 and will then develop measures to improve critical infrastructure resiliency. In order to accomplish these goals, METI has established a Working Group on Electricity Resilience to discuss challenges and possible measures to enhance the resiliency of Japan’s electricity infrastructure, and to establish a disaster-resilient electricity supply system.

[1] OCCTO is an organization that aims to promote the development of electricity transmission and distribution networks in Japan, which are necessary for cross-regional electricity use and the enhancement of the nationwide function of adjusting the supply-demand balance of electricity.