Kawasaki Receives Order from HEPCO for World's Largest Class Aboveground LNG Tank

Tokyo, June 15, 2016 — Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced today that it has, jointly with Obayashi Corporation, received an order from Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Inc. (HEPCO) for the construction of an aboveground-type liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank at the Ishikari LNG Terminal. HEPCO plans to begin using the new tank in 2020.

Set to be one of the world's largest aboveground LNG tanks, it is a full containment tank with a PC outer wall and a 230,000 kiloliter capacity. Serving as a fuel-gas storage facility to supply natural gas to the Ishikariwan Shinko Power Station, the new tank will be the second HEPCO tank installed at the Ishikari LNG Terminal. The Ishikariwan Shinko Power Station is HEPCO's first LNG-fueled thermal power facility, built to achieve diversification of fuel types, decentralization of power supplies (distributed generation) and more stable provision of electric power into the future.

The Ishikari LNG receiving terminal is operated by Hokkaido Gas Co., Ltd. (Kita Gas), which uses it jointly with HEPCO. Currently, Kita Gas owns two LNG tanks at the Terminal: the No. 1 Tank, which is currently operational, and the No. 2 Tank, which is under construction. HEPCO owns one tank, the No. 3 Tank, which is also under construction. The latest order received by Kawasaki is for the fourth tank. The company was previously contracted to construct the No. 1 and No. 3 Tanks as well.

The roots of Kawasaki's LNG tank business can be traced back to its first in-ground tank delivered in 1982 and first aboveground tank delivered in 1983. Since then, the company has constructed all types of LNG tanks utilized throughout Japan, such as double metal wall type tanks, in-pit tanks, PC outer wall full containment tanks, and membrane-type in-ground tanks. Kawasaki has also participated in technological cooperation projects in South Korea and other overseas construction projects, with a total of 41 LNG tanks built domestically and abroad.

Moving forward, Kawasaki plans to leverage its experience building a wide variety of energy storage facilities—primarily on low-temperature and cryogenic storage—as it strives to expand efforts in this field both in Japan and beyond.

The following is an overview of the technical specifications for the LNG tank ordered by HEPCO.