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Japan’s Iitate biomass plant to start up in mid-July

  • Market: Biomass
  • 01/07/24

A 7.5MW biomass plant in Japan's Fukushima prefecture's Iitate village has completed construction and will start commercial operations in mid-July, the operating company said today.

The biomass unit will burn a total of 95,000 t/yr of unused wood and wood bark gathered from Fukushima prefecture, including several areas hit by the nuclear disaster in 2011. Those biomass fuels may contain radioactive materials, so the unit is equipped with double filters and will continuously monitor radioactive materials in the exhaust gas.

The company will sell the electricity under Japan's feed-in-tariff scheme for 20 years and consider continuing commercial operations after that. The total project expense is $62mn and received $34mn from the Japanese government's subsidy scheme to build power plants in Fukushima, in efforts to revitalise the prefecture. The company started building the Iitate plant in August 2022.

The power unit is operated by joint venture Iitate Bio Partners. Japanese utility Tokyo Electric Power owns 40pc of the company, while construction company Kumagai-Gumi, developer Kobelco Eco-Solution and Tokyo Power Technology each have a 20pc stake. Tokyo Power Technology is a subsidiary of Tokyo Electric Power, and the Iitate plant is located around 40km from Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.


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21/10/25

Japan's firms to cut CO2 emissions at Cirebon plant

Japan's firms to cut CO2 emissions at Cirebon plant

Tokyo, 21 October (Argus) — Japan's largest power producer by capacity Jera and trading house Marubeni plan to reduce CO2 emissions at the 1GW No.2 unit of the Cirebon coal-fired power generation plant in Indonesia. Jera and Marubeni agreed on 3 October to study decarbonisation measures for the Cirebon No.2 unit with Indonesian state-owned power utility PLN, as part of the third ministerial-level meeting of the Japan-led decarbonisation platform Asia Zero Emission Community (Azec), Jera told Argus on 21 October. Cirebon Electric Power, the power plant operating firm funded by Jera , Marubeni, as well as other Indonesian and South Korean companies, and PLN are considering exploring potential implementation of decarbonisation measures like biomass co-firing, ammonia co-firing, and carbon capture and storage or carbon capture, use and storage. Jera is unsure which measure has the most potential. The firms plan to conduct research for the next two years. But the schedule after 2027 and details of its CO2 reduction goal are not clear. The No.2 Cirebon unit, which is equipped with an ultra-supercritical generator — a piece of advanced technology to improve power generation efficiency — started its operations in May 2023. It consumed coal from Indonesia. The 660MW No.1 Cirebon coal-fired power generation unit may be retired early with the Indonesian government's push. Jakarta is aiming to remove up to 6.7GW of coal-fired generation capacity by 2040 and to completely remove coal-fired power plants from its overall generation mix by 2058, in pursuit of its net zero target by 2060. The Japanese government is eager to promote both economic growth and decarbonisation in Asia-Pacific countries, instead of focusing only on decarbonisation. The ministerial-level meeting concluded with a joint statement reaffirming Azec's "one goal, various pathways" approach, which recognises country-specific decarbonisation strategies. It also endorsed a "triple breakthrough" framework aimed at achieving climate mitigation, inclusive growth and energy security. By Nanami Oki Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Brazil to generate carbon credits through forests


20/10/25
News
20/10/25

Brazil to generate carbon credits through forests

Sao Paulo, 20 October (Argus) — Brazil will generate carbon credits through conservation and restoration projects in public forest concessions, the government said. Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a decree on 17 October that allows projects to adopt internationally recognized certification methodologies to generate credits in the Brazilian emissions trading system (SBCE). With this law, private initiatives managing public forests will be able to choose the certification method under the reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) framework, instead of just the national regulation system. The certification enables international recognition to transfer carbon credits in the global market without renouncing national regulations, according to the environment ministry. It also allows for predictability and legal security that can help draw private investments into Brazil's climate agenda. Brazil established the extraordinary secretariat for the carbon market within the finance ministry on 15 October. The secretariat aims to promote sustainable development and consolidate the decarbonization market by 2030, but faces hurdles such as establishing criteria for carbon credits and guidelines for monitoring. Brazil's nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement aims to end deforestation and restore 12mn hectares of degenerated forests by 2030. By João Curi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Deforestation spike in 2024 risks 2030 goal


15/10/25
News
15/10/25

Deforestation spike in 2024 risks 2030 goal

Sao Paulo, 15 October (Argus) — Global deforestation last year rose by 27pc and was 63pc above the projected pathway to zero deforestation by 2030, according to the annual Forest Declaration Assessment, published this week by a climate-focused coalition of the same name. Global deforestation in 2024 rose to 8.1mn hectares (ha), equivalent to the territory of the Czech Republic and up by 27pc from 6.37mn ha in 2023, the report said. Agricultural expansion and recurring wildfires, especially in tropical forests, were responsible for deforestation exceeding the target set under the Kunming-Montreal biodiversity framework to halt forest loss and restore nature, which was signed by 196 nations at the UN biodiversity summit in 2022. But at least 10.6mn ha of degraded forests were under restoration projects as of September, although the report lacks data to accurately estimate if the recovering areas follow required scaling processes to reach set goals. The projected restoration area, which represents nearly 5.4pc of global reforestation potential, is 30pc behind targets set under the Kunming-Montreal biodiversity framework. The global deforestation curve "has not begun to bend" with about five years to reach the 2030 goal, the report said. But the EU's Green New Deal and Brazil's Tropical Forest Forever Facility initiative — to be officially launched in Cop 30 — may be promising for forest conservation if both overcome political pushback and legislation hurdles. Separately from the Kunming-Montreal biodiversity framework, more than 140 countries committed to halt deforestation by 2030 at the UN Cop 26 climate summit in Glasgow, with a wider target to restore around 350mn ha of degraded lands by then. Tropical urgency Around 8.8mn ha of tropical moist forests were degraded in 2024, which is more than triple the projected level on the pathway to zero degradation by 2030 laid out in Cop 26. Large-scale wildfires in the Amazon basin emitted 791mn metric tonnes of CO2 last year, exceeding Germany's greenhouse gas emissions in the same period, according to the latest Forest Declaration Assessment. The report did not provide a comparison with 2023 emissions. Around 17-38pc of the Amazon rainforest is already degraded, and the report expects as much as 47pc degradation in the basin by 2050 because of land-use change, extreme droughts and wildfires. Bolivia lost 9pc of its remaining intact tropical moist forests last year, accounting for 32pc of global degradation emissions. Brazil lost less than 1pc of its forest area in the period but represented half of all tropical moist forest degradation in the Amazon basin at 1.66mn ha. Venezuela's degradation last year jumped 19-fold from the five-year average, while forest degradation rose six-fold from the five-year average in the Guiana Shield countries — which comprises Guyana, Suriname, France's French Guiana, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. By João Curi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Singapore's Tuas Power to raise biomass-fired capacity


07/10/25
News
07/10/25

Singapore's Tuas Power to raise biomass-fired capacity

Singapore, 7 October (Argus) — Singapore-based independent power producer (IPP) Tuas Power will increase its biomass-fired capacity in or by 2027 by converting some of the co-fired boilers to burn solely biomass, market participants told Argus . Tuas Power meets about 20pc of Singapore's total electricity demand and sells other services such as steam, high-grade industrial water and wastewater treatment through its Tembusu Multi-Utilities Complex (TMUC). The company, owned by China's Huaneng Power International, is likely converting its key biomass-clean coal cogeneration plant at the TMUC facility to a 100pc biomass-fired unit, the market participants said. It currently co-fires coal and biomass. The facility will use imported palm kernel shells (PKS) and domestic wood waste for biomass fuel after the conversion, a trader said, adding that Tuas Power has likely reached out to several trading houses and PKS suppliers for the cargoes. The utility plans to procure more than 1mn t/yr of imported PKS from southeast Asian countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, and around 300,000 t/yr of domestic wood waste derived from horticultural activities in Singapore, according to market participants. TMUC's co-fired plant will likely burn more than 1.3mn t/yr of biomass to generate 135MW of power and produce high-pressured steam for industrial sale. The converted units could start operations from around 2027-28, the market participants added. Argus has approached Tuas Power for comment but it has not responded to queries. Certification The project could disrupt the future PKS market dynamics because it could lead to a sharp increase in demand for certified cargoes, according to market participants. Historically, Tuas Power has never had a mandate for procured PKS to go through third-party certification bodies. But it could be buying certified PKS after the conversion because nearly all market volumes have undergone some level of certification, with very little uncertified spot cargoes left. This comes as Japanese demand in the certified PKS market records steady growth this year. Meanwhile, consumption is also projected to rise next year because of the many new Japanese power plants coming on line until the end of 2026. By Joshua Sim Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Typhoon Bualoi disrupts wood pellet supplies in Vietnam


02/10/25
News
02/10/25

Typhoon Bualoi disrupts wood pellet supplies in Vietnam

Singapore, 2 October (Argus) — Typhoon Bualoi has caused supply disruptions for Vietnamese wood pellet producers, after it hit central and northern Vietnam on 1 October, causing significant damage to buildings and infrastructure. The storm brought heavy rain and flooding across regions such as Hanoi, affecting the operations of many wood pellet suppliers' operations. Producers had to pause the collection of raw materials for wood pellet production because of the severe weather and are currently trying to assess any damage to their wood pellet supplies, said market participants. Harvesting of raw material such as logs and wood chips is expected to halt for about a week, according to market participants. A market participant estimated that the disruptions affect roughly around 10-15pc of monthly production in Vietnam. Scheduled shipments were also delayed by more than a week because of the typhoon, according to several trading firms. A trader had to postpone loading four wood pellet cargoes for up to 10 days. Another trading firm reported similar delays because of stormy weather at the ports in north Vietnam. Significant rain has also affected southern Vietnam including Ho Chi Minh and Phu My. This has impacted vessel loadings at ports in these regions. At least two Japanese trading firms had to delay shipments at these ports by more than a week. But the overall impact on the spot wood pellet market could be limited because of weak demand from key buyer Japan since August following the shutdown of biomass-fired power plants . Elsewhere in South Korea, wood pellet prices have come under pressure from suppliers from other markets including Indonesia. Vietnamese suppliers were also heard to be more hesitant to participate in South Korean tenders because of lower-priced bids and uncertainty in supply. By Nadhir Mokhtar Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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