TOKYO, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Japan's Tohoku Electric Power Co started on Monday trial power generation at a 1,000 megawatt No.1 coal-fired unit at its Haramachi power plant, the last earthquake-hit fossil fuel plant to get restarted.

The company had expected to begin operations in early February but it got an earlier start after clean-up work went smoothly.

But it was not clear when the unit's commercial operations would begin, the northern utility said in a statement. Several Tohoku power plants were effected by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Last November, the company resumed trial power output at a 1,000 MW coal-fired No.2 unit at the Haramachi plant, north of Tokyo. It plans to resume commercial operations at the unit at the end of March.

(Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Robert Birsel) Keywords: COAL JAPAN/TOHOKUELECTRIC

(risa.maeda@thomsonreuters.com)(81-3-6441-1856)(Reuters Messaging: risa.maeda.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

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