Japan will require 68,000MW of additional electricity generation capacity by 2007 as domestic power demand is expected to climb during the same period.
Based on this demand forecast, a government panel has accepted plans, that had been proposed by domestic utilities, to construct five new power plants.
The five plants, comprising four hydro and one thermal, include an 1800MW hydro plant in Nagano which has been proposed by Chubu Electric Power Company.
Chubu plans to start construction in 2002 with completion targeted around 2012.