62 Kyushu Electric Power Company Annual Report 2012
(Fiscal Year) Noteworthy Events
1951 Kyushu Electric Power is established.1953Kyushu Electric Power receives its first post-war loan (approximately 3円.8 billion) in Japan from the International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank).1955The Kamishiiba Power Station, the first in Japan with an arch dam, becomes operational.
Unit 1 at the Karita Thermal Power Station, an advanced, high-capacity system (75,000 kW), becomes operational.1957Kyushu Electric Power completes its Central Line (220,000 V), its first super-high-voltage transmission line.
Thermal generation capacity exceeds hydroelectric capacity.
1960 Frequency unification is completed.1967The Otake Power Station, Japan’s first commercial geothermal generation facility, becomes operational with a capacity
of 11,000 kW.
Unit 1 at the Karatsu Power Station (156,000 kW) becomes operational as Kyushu Electric Power’s first generation
facility with a control computer.1969Unit 1 at the Oita Power Station (250,000 kW), Kyushu Electric Power’s first facility designed to run exclusively on
heavy fuel oil, becomes operational.
1970 The provision of electric lighting to all homes is completed.1975Unit 1 at the Genkai Power Station (559,000 kW), Kyushu Electric Power’s first nuclear facility, becomes operational.
The Ohira Power Station, then Japan’s biggest pumped-storage facility (500,000 kW), becomes operational.1977Unit 1 at the Hatchoubaru Geothermal Power Station, one of the biggest in Japan, becomes operational, initially with a
capacity of 23,000 kW.1980Kyushu Electric Power builds the Central and West Kyushu Substations (500,000 V) and raises the voltage on its Saga
Line to 500,000 V.
The 500,000 V Trans-Kanmon Line becomes operational.
1982 The Kyushu Energy Center is opened.
1984 Unit 1 at the Sendai Nuclear Power Station (890,000 kW) becomes operational.1986Unit 1 at the Tenzan Power Station (300,000 kW), a large-capacity pumped-storage facility, becomes operational.
Kyushu Electric Power begins to use automatic control systems on its distribution lines.1989Kyushu Electric Power achieves a zero outage record for work on high-and low-voltage facilities for the first time in
Japan.1990The No. 1 System at the Shin Oita Power Station (690,000 kW) becomes operational. Designed to use LNG, this­combined-cycle unit provides excellent thermal efficiency.1992Kyushu Electric Power begins to purchase surplus electric power from distributed generation facilities, including solar
and wind power systems.1998Kyushu Electric Power begins to operate a superconducting storage system as an electric power facility.
It is the first of its type in Japan and one of the largest in the world.
2000 The Genkai Energy Park is opened.2001A loan agreement is signed for the Tuxpan II IPP project in Mexico.
The Kyushu Homeland Forestation Program is launched.
2002 Dedicated sales representatives are assigned to corporate customers.
2004 The Call Center is extended to the entire corporate organization.
2005 The Goto Archipelago Link, Japan’s longest sea-bed cable, becomes operational.
2007 "Kyushu Electric Power’s Mission" and brand message "Enlighten Our Future" are adopted.
2009 Implementation of Japan’s first pluthermal operation.
2010 The Mega Solar Omuta, our first large-scale solar power generation station, becomes operational.
2011 An accident occurred at the nuclear power station in Fukushima following the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake.
Outline of Kyushu Electric Power’s History
(As of March 31, 2012)