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Corporate Information

 
Press Release (May 16,2008)
Participation in the TaThang Hydropower CDM Project (Vietnam) - Support for a CDM Project through the Group's Technical Resources for Carbon Credits -
The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (TEPCO) signed an agreement today with Vietracimex 
Lao Cai Electric Joint Stock Company (VLCE*1), a Vietnamese hydropower company, for 
the purchase of carbon credits generated from a hydropower CDM project*2 in Lao Cai 
Province located in the northeastern part of Vietnam, with VLCE implementing the project 
and TEPCO offering technical assistance. 

Leveraging the group's technical resources, TEPCO has been working on this project 
since the planning phase. Specifically, TEPCO launched a feasibility study*3 back 
in 2005 and its affiliate, the Tokyo Electric Power Services Co., Ltd., began to 
work on the detailed design of plant facilities in 2007. The TEPCO Group intends 
to continue supporting this project in the  construction and O&M (operation and 
maintenance) phases.

The plan is to set up a run-off-river hydropower plant with a designed capacity of 
60,000 kW (30,000 kW x 2). Generated electricity will be sold to Electricity of 
Vietnam (EVN)*4 and supplied to the grid in the northern part of the country. With 
part of the grid replaced by hydropower-generated electricity, CO2 emissions will 
be reduced by a total of about 300,000 tons between 2011 (planned) and 2012, of 
which about 290,000 tons will be purchased by TEPCO as carbon credits, with a 
predetermined amount deducted in accordance with carbon credit rules*5.
The attached document summarizes this project. 

VLCE and TEPCO will jointly work on required procedures for CDM project approval by 
the Vietnamese and Japanese governments, the UNFCCC for carbon credit generation. 

Efforts for mitigating Climate Changes are one of the top priorities in the corporate 
management for TEPCO. The Group is willing to pursue such efforts both at home and 
abroad, taking advantage of the Group's long-established technical resources. 


*1: Vietracimex Lao Cai Electric Joint Stock Company
    Headquarters: Lao Cai City, Lao Cai Province, the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
    CEO: Mr. Vu Duc Toan
    Foundation: November 22, 2006
    Capital: 240 billion Vietnam dong (about 1.5 billion yen, 1 yen = 156 Vietnam dong) 
    Business: Hydropower generation, etc.

*2: CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) 
    The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a economically flexible mechanism allowing 
    industrialized countries and economies in transition to invest in projects that 
    reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries in return for certified 
    emission reductions (carbon credits), which can be used to help meet their reduction 
    targets. It is one of the mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol (Kyoto Mechanisms), 
    along with Joint Implementation (JI) and Emission Trading (ET). The Kyoto Mechanisms 
    are a flexible economic arrangement set out in the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 to reduce 
    greenhouse gas emissions. 

*3: Applications were made to New Energy and Industrial Technology Development 
    Organization (NEDO) for its "2005 Feasibility Study Program for CDM/JI Projects" 
    and were subsequently approved; the feasibility study was conducted in 2005 and 2006. 

*4: Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) is a state-owned power company that controls power 
    generation and transmission in Vietnam.

*5: According to the rules for CDM carbon credit transactions, which were set at COP/MOP1 
    in 2005, 2% of the carbon credits originating from each CDM project shall be deducted 
    and owned by the UNFCCC to help vulnerable developing countries adapt to climate change. 

Appendix: The TaThang Hydropower CDM Project (Vietnam)(PDF 95.6KB)
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