Engineering firm Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) will renovate Japan's 1,070MW Taketoyo coal-and-biomass co-firing power plant, focusing on wood pellet fuel-conveying safety ahead of planned biomass operations resumption in June 2028. KHI will upgrade the Taketoyo No. 5 unit's dust collection systems and install fire monitoring equipment to prevent fires and explosions, the company said 31 July. Work is targeted for completion by June 2028. The plant operated coal-and-biomass co-firing from August 2022, consuming around 500,000 tonnes annually of wood pellets at a 17% biomass rate. A dust explosion fire halted operations in January 2024; the plant resumed coal-only burning in January 2025 following repairs. Jera, Japan's largest power producer by capacity, initially targeted Q1 2027 for biomass co-firing restart but has postponed to June 2028. Critically, the company plans to reduce biomass co-firing from 17% to 8% when operations resume, citing safety enhancement as the priority. The plant currently operates only during peak electricity demand seasons (summer and winter) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.