Japan's Tepco plans spin-off of hydro, renewables ops - report

Aug 12, 2014 - Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc (TYO:9501) may separate its hydropower and renewable energy activities into a new unit as part of a plan to become a holding company, the Nikkei reported today.

The group, which is also known as Tepco, will own four companies instead of three once it adopts the new structure in April 2016, people familiar with the plans told the paper. The Japanese utility has already decided to separate fuel and fossil fuel power generation, power transmission and distribution as well as retail services into three units.

According to the report, the company’s hydropower and renewable energy business will target pre-tax profits of JPY 17 billion (USD 166.2m/EUR 124.4m) annually in the 2016-2022 period. The new unit’s full-year hydropower electricity production is expected to increase by 51 million kWh over 10 years from the spin-off, the Nikkei added.

In March 2011, an earthquake followed by tsunami in Japan lead to the meltdown of three reactors at Tepco’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy facility. The planned transformation into a holding company is part of Tepco’s efforts to recover financially from the disaster.

Apart from hydropower, the company is also engaged in the field of solar, wind and geothermal power generation. It has three solar parks with a combined capacity of 30 MW, according to its website.

(JPY 100 = USD 0.978/EUR 0.731)

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