The main power generator in Hokkaido says it will be able to meet a boom in consumption from planned data centers and a chipmaking plant provided it is allowed to restart its nuclear reactor.
Hokkaido has emerged as an attractive destination for Japanese companies looking to build data centers due to its cold climate, which reduces cooling costs, and potential for renewable energy, particularly offshore wind. That has raised the question of whether the prefecture, which until recently was expecting demand to decline due to its aging population, would have enough generation capacity to cope.
Hokkaido Electric Power will be able to meet the rising demand expected from 2027 through 2030, Susumu Saito, the company’s president, said at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday. However, that relies on restarting its Tomari No. 3 nuclear reactor that was taken offline in the wake of the Fukushima No.1 disaster in 2011, he said.
State-backed Rapidus will start producing chips in Hokkaido in 2027, and the Nikkei newspaper has reported that SoftBank is building a large-scale data center there.
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