Japanese firms step up biomass power investments

Japanese firms are gearing up to increase their investments in biomass power generation projects to reduce the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in line with Japan's target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Japanese utility Hokkaido Electric Power has decided to invest in a 50MW Tomato biomass power project at Tomakomai, on the northern Hokkaido island. The utility will buy a 20pc stake from Singapore-based fund Equis, leaving Equis with a 80pc share in the project. The companies plan to jointly develop the plant, which is designed to burn imported wood pellets and palm kernel shells, targeting for commissioning in April 2025. Electricity produced at the site will be sold to regional grid firm Hokkaido Electric Power Network at a fixed price for 20 years under the country's feed-in-tariff (FiT) scheme.

Fellow utility Hokuriku Electric Power has agreed to buy a 25pc share in a 112MW biomass power plant planned at Sendai port, in northeastern Miyagi prefecture, from Japanese trading firm Sumitomo. Gas retailer Tokyo Gas has also secured a 25pc stake in the project through its 100pc-owned subsidiary Prominet Power, reducing Sumitomo's shares to 50pc, of which 5pc is owned through its subsidiary Sumitomo Tohoku. The new plant is expected to start operations in October 2025, using imported wood pellets and domestically-supplied woody biomass as feedstock.

Three Japanese firms, including Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, SMFL Mirai Partners and Tokyo Energy and Systems, have joined the Abashiri biomass power project in Hokkaido, which is led by domestic upstream firm Japex. The project consists of two 9.9MW plants which will be fired by locally-supplied wood chips. The No.2 unit is expected to begin operations in August, followed by the No.3 unit in December.

The Abashiri biomass project is currently 33.8pc owned by Japex, 33.4pc by Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, 20pc by SMFL Mirai Partners, 7pc by Tokyo Energy & Systems, 5.1pc by renewable developer Wind-Smile and 0.7pc by Nippon Paper Lumber.

Japan's operational biomass power capacity totalled 5,327MW at the end of September last year, including the 879MW installed before the introduction of the FiT system in July 2012 and does not have FiT support. The operational capacity accounted for 66.6pc of the country's revised biomass power target of 8,000MW for the April 2030-March 2031 fiscal year.

Japan aims to generate 36-38pc of the country's power output from renewable energy sources in 2030-31, double the 18pc share in 2019-20. Biomass is forecast to account for 5pc of Japan's total power output in 2030-31.

By Motoko Hasegawa