The Shinko Kobe Power Station No. 1 unit began commercial operation on April 1, 2002.
This Shinko Kobe power generating installation was constructed as an IPP (Independent Power Producer) facility with the aim of generating power to be sold to the Kansai Power Electric Company. It has an output of 700MW and is the largest IPP capacity operation in Japan.
MHI supplied the supercritical pressure boiler (steam capacity: 2,340t/h), the steam turbines and the generators. It also supplied the coal-unloading equipment, the NOx removal equipment, the electrostatic precipitator, gas-gas heater and the stack.
This power plant is located in the heart of Kobe City. Thus, many key features were required to meet the stringent environmental standards for urban area power facilities. The design of the facility includes features that make it possible to supply steam for area heating use (district heating).
Highly rationalized features were required for the IPP thermal power-generating facilities while, at the same time, achieving maximum efficiency and reliability. As such, the following features were included:

• Supercritical sliding pressure operation, once-through vertical tube type boiler
• Tandem compound 3-cylinder turbines and newly designed ISB (integral shrouded blade) high-efficiency rotor blades.
• Axial-flow fans, single-flow BFP turbines and other high efficiency auxiliary equipment.

This power-generating facility is located within the Kobe steel works in a relatively confined area, so that the main parts of the boiler were fabricated and installed using construction modules (3 blocks) in order to efficiently use the available space.