Japan's second-biggest city gas provider, Osaka Gas, said on Monday it started commercial operations of the No. 1 unit at its new 1.25-gigawatt (GW) gas-fired power station in Himeji, western Japan, on January 1.

The plant comprises two 622.6-MW units, with the No. 2 unit expected to begin operations in May, the company, which also supplies electricity, said.

The facility runs on natural gas and uses a high-efficiency gas turbine combined-cycle power generation system, according to a company statement.

Once both units are online, Osaka Gas' domestic thermal power generation capacity will rise to about 3.2 GW from roughly 2 GW.

The move comes as data centers are expected to consume vast amounts of power to support the AI boom, while Japan's latest Strategic Energy Plan, approved in February last year, identified gas as a realistic transition fuel towards the nation's goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and "an important energy source even after carbon neutrality".

Japan has been auctioning new gas-fired power capacity mainly to replace ageing coal plants, awarding 7 GW over the past two years, the Organization for Cross-regional Coordination of Transmission Operators, Japan (OCCTO) said last year.

The OCCTO has projected liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fired capacity will rise to 85.75 GW by 2034 from 79.98 GW in 2024.