Key Point of President's Regular Press Conference

December 2024 Regular Press Conference : President Hayashi's Message

December 24, 2024
Chubu Electric Power Co.,Inc.

Today, I will be talking about “Reflection of this year and resolutions for the coming year”.

Reflection of this year

The year 2024, which began with the Noto Peninsula earthquake on New Year's Day, saw progress in discussions on the formulation of the 7th Basic Energy Plan and the revision of the Electricity Systems Reform. Coupled with the chaotic international situation, it turned out to be a year that reaffirmed the importance of electricity and energy in supporting Japan's economy and people's lives.
Reflecting on the past year, I will discuss three key points: response to large-scale disasters, changes in the energy environment, and initiatives at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station.
The first point is about how to respond to large-scale disasters.
The Noto Peninsula earthquake that occurred on January 1 caused extensive damage, particularly in Ishikawa and surrounding prefectures. Once again, we would like to express our condolences to those who lost their lives and our deepest sympathies to the many people affected by the disaster.
From January 2, the day after the disaster struck, to January 29, our Group dispatched a total of 2,044 personnel, generator trucks, and other support to patrol and restore power distribution lines, supply power to evacuation centers using generator trucks, and provide other assistance to the fullest extent possible to restore power outages.
Then in August, the first alert over risk of Nankai Trough Earthquake was released. In response to this announcement, we immediately issued an earthquake standby system, and the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station responded with an initial response force of approximately 300 personnel, and our entire Group prepared for a major earthquake, including from the viewpoint of stable supply and public safety.
Through the series of responses to these natural disasters, we have once again recognized the role of energy infrastructure providers, or in other words, the importance of a stable supply of electricity to support Japan's economy and people's lives.
Our Group will continue making efforts to ensure the stable delivery of electricity to customers by ceaselessly working on deepening both hardware and software measures on a daily basis to prepare for earthquakes and other disasters.
The second point concerns changes in the energy environment.
Currently, discussions on the formulation of the Seventh Basic Energy Plan and the revision of the Electricity Systems Reform are reaching their climax in Japan.
Against the backdrop of the invasion of Ukraine and other factors, energy security risks are increasing, while the overall demand for electricity in Japan is expected to increase due to the development of high DX demand for data centers and other facilities. Considering these points, we believe that it is essential for Japan, a country with limited natural resources, to make every effort to simultaneously realize GX and ensure stable power supply. These efforts not only include utilizing renewable energy, but also making maximum use of nuclear power and using thermal power as transitional energy supply.
We, are also working toward the Zero Emissions Challenge 2050, which aims to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions from all of its operations by 2050, while simultaneously achieving stable power supply through various initiatives such as expanding renewable energy sources to over 3.2 million kW by around 2030, restarting the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station, and using hydrogen, ammonia, and CCUS.
The third point is regarding the initiatives at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station.
As for the assessment of Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station's new regulatory standard conformity, following the base earthquake motion in September of last year, the base tsunami was evaluated in October of this year as "generally appropriate". In November, based on this evaluation, a decision was made to start the plant examination process at an exchange of views with the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA).
The first plant examination after the exchange of views will be held today. We will provide an overview of the application, including issues in the seismic and tsunami resistant design policies. The start of the plant examination is considered to be a step-up in the examination process for us.
Regarding the review of the evaluation of faults at the site, it was explained at the November review meeting that the examination point for activity by the application of overlying sediments would be changed to the BF1 point, where a layer of volcanic ash has been confirmed as a promising clear age indicator. On the 16th and 17th of this month, NRA conducted a field survey.
In addition, on the 18th of this month, the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station Units 1 and 2 also received approval of changes to the decommissioning plan to move to Phase 3, which involves the dismantlement of the reactor pressure vessel in the reactor area. We will proceed with dismantling work based on the approved decommissioning plan, etc.
As I mentioned earlier, with electricity demand expected to increase across Japan in the future, we believe that from the perspective of simultaneously achieving GX and ensuring stable supply, it is necessary to maximize the use of nuclear power, which contributes to energy security and leads to decarbonization.
We will continue to make utmost efforts to receive confirmation of compliance with the new regulatory standards as soon as possible so that we can resume operations at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station,while steadily proceeding with the decommissioning of Units 1 and 2, placing the highest priority on ensuring safety and maintaining transparency.

Resolutions for the coming year

Next, I would like to talk about our resolutions for the coming year.
While the international energy situation is expected to remain uncertain in 2025, our Group intend to make steady and rapid progress, taking into account the review of the Basic Energy Plan and other factors.
In order to maintain and enhance the trust of our customers, which we have continuously cultivated through the supply of energy such as electricity, we will promote various initiatives, including "provision of services that exceed customer needs and expectations, including promotion of decarbonization," "steady new development of renewable energy sources," "efforts toward early restart of the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station" .
The establishment of the Real Estate Business Headquarters at Chubu Electric Power and the provision of Kateene BANK, a banking service for households at Chubu Electric Power Miraiz, are part of the initiatives. We will continue to expand our business domain and reform our business model to provide services that exceed customer needs and expectations.
FY2025 is in fact the final year of our medium-term management plan. In addition to ensuring the achievement of consolidated ordinary income of 200 billion yen or more and ROIC of 3.2% or more as stated in our medium-term management targets, we will accelerate our efforts to realize our vision for 2030 as set forth in Management Vision 2.0.

Furthermore, our Group considers compliance and health and safety to be important management fundamentals. I will take the lead and continue to work tirelessly to ensure compliance with Antimonopoly Act and other regulations, foster a culture of safety, and promote health management.

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