Japanese renewable power producer Erex increased its biomass-fired generation in May compared with a year earlier, although one plant was under periodic maintenance.
Erex's output from the 50MW Saiki, 75MW Buzen and 49MW Nakagusuku power plants in May increased by 26pc from a year earlier to 95.6GWh, according to company data. Generation more than doubled at Buzen, was up by 22pc at Nakagusuku and 5pc at Saiki.
The 20MW Tosa has been under periodic maintenance since 6 March. Erex does not publish output data of its 75MW Ofunato biomass power plant. The company is planning to start coal and biomass co-firing operations at the 149MW Itoigawa but it currently only burns coal.
Erex operates 269MW of biomass generation capacity including Ofunato, burning mainly imported wood pellets and palm kernel shells. The company is planning to start operations at two more biomass power plants, the 75MW Sakaide Hayashida in 2025 and the 300MW Niigata Mega Bio around 2029.
The company is also accelerating biomass projects in southeast Asia, aiming to build up to 19 generation plants in Vietnam and five in Cambodia that will burn mainly wood residue and chips.
