Equis Bioenergy to build 50MW Japanese biomass power plant in 2019

The plant will consume wood pellets supplied under a 20-year contract.

Equis Bioenergy will proceed to develop its 50MW biomass power plant in Toyama, Japan which is located approximately 250km north-west of Tokyo. Construction is expected to begin in Q2 2019, whilst power delivery is set to start on Q3 2021.

According to an announcement, the power plant will be fueled by wood pellets supplied under a 20-year, fixed-quantity, and fixed-priced contract. All feedstock will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council to guarantee production from sustainably managed forests and supply chains.

The project secured $219.73m (JPY25b) of non-recourse project financing committed from nine syndication banks led by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Shinsei Bank.

Equis Bioenergy has also concluded an Operations & Maintenance Agreement with TEPCO F&P. TEPCO F&P currently owns 41 GW of thermal power plants in Japan and over 55 GW globally.

The biomass project will sell power to Hokuriku Electric Power Company (HEPCO) under Japan’s renewable energy Feed-In-Tariff regime. Under the terms of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), HEPCO will purchase power from the Project at $0.21 (JPY24) per kWh for a period of 20 years.

The plant could supply the needs of approximately 75,000 households. By displacing a traditional coal power plant, it is estimated the project is expected to save approximately 47,785 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per annum.

Toyo Engineering will undertake the construction works under a full turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract.