Shikoku Electric Power and five corporate partners commissioned the 74.95MW Sakaide Biomass Power Plant in Sakaide City, Kagawa Prefecture, on June 2, 2025, the company said.
The asset is expected to generate 530GWh annually. Its output will be sold to Shikoku Electric Power Transmission and Distribution under the feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme at 24 yen per kWh. As with other similar-scale biomass projects, it was built near a port and will use about 32,000 tons of imported wood pellets each year.
The power plant was initially developed by Erex and Shinko Denso, which continue to hold 14% and 10% stakes in its special purpose company Sakaide Biomass Power LLC, respectively. Four partners joined the project in October 2021. Shikoku EPCO holds the largest, 36% economic interest. Hazama Ando Corporation owns 20%, Tokyo Gas-owned Prominet Power 15%, and the local logistics company Sakaide Yusengumi 5%.
Sumitomo Heavy Industries handled engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) and supplied a boiler for the project. Construction began in November 2022 and was completed on schedule.
The biomass power plant is located near Shikoku Electric Power’s largest thermal asset, the 1.39GW Sakaide Thermal Power Station, which Shikoku EPCO plans to expand with a 600MW LNG-fired unit by FY2031. It is the first biomass project in which the utility holds a major stake and follows the 50MW Ozu Biomass Power Plant, 6.4% owned by its subsidiary Yonden Business.
