Japan’s Renova starts Miyagi biomass power plant

Japanese renewable power developer Renova started commercial operations today at its 75MW Ishinomaki Hibarino biomass-fired power plant in northeast Japan's Miyagi prefecture.

The power plant is designed to consume an undisclosed volume of wood pellets and palm kernel shells (PKS) to generate around 530 GWh/yr of electricity.

Renova originally targeted to start up the power plant in May 2023 but postponed the start-up multiple times.

Renova has been forced to delay the start-up schedules at several of its power plants. It previously targeted to begin commercial operations of the 75MW Omaezaki biomass power plant this month but postponed it to July, as the final adjustment of boiler and turbine units is taking longer than expected. It delayed the launch of the 74.8MW Tokushima Tsuda biomass power plant in September before it began commercial operations in December 2023.

Japan imported 1mn t of wood pellets during January-February, up by 14pc from the same period in 2023, according to the finance ministry. PKS purchases fell by 24pc to 466,186t.

By Nanami Oki