Chubu Electric Power commissioned the 7.83MW run-of-river Abegawa Hydro Power Plant in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, on April 2, 2025. Non-fossil certificates from the asset are being sold through a virtual PPA arranged by Chubu Electric Power Miraiz that came into effect on the same day.
According to Chubu EPCO, offtakers under the 20-year virtual PPA include AGC Techno Glass, Shizuoka Bank, Somic Ishikawa, Toyota Boshoku, Nabeya Bi-tech Kaisha, Hamamatsu Photonics, Merck Electronics Materials, and Yamaha.
The power plant was originally certified under the feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme in FY2016. At the time, 20-year contracts at 24 yen per kWh were offered to projects larger than 1MW but smaller than 30MW. Chubu EPCO likely converted the asset to the market-based feed-in-premium (FIP) scheme prior to commissioning to enable the PPA. Otherwise, it would have had to forgo the subsidy altogether.
Construction of the power plant began in 2020, led by a joint venture between Tobishima and Tekken. The power plant’s completion was delayed from the initially planned December 2024.
The virtual PPA is part of Chubu Electric Power Miraiz’s “Minna de Datsutanso Project,” which includes other multi-offtaker PPAs including one for the 15MW Aoyama Kogen Wind Farm and an on- and off-site hybrid deal involving the installation of solar power plants at 15 different companies and sharing of power among a selection of them.
While solar and wind dominate the PPA market, interest in alternative technologies is growing. Chubu Electric Power’s PPA comes less than a week after TEPCO Renewable Power announced an upcoming hydro PPA with Hulic and a couple of months after Hokuriku Electric Power’s announcement of a hydro PPA with JR West.
