Monthly Report

Japan Benex’s rented rooftop solar portfolio reaches 50MW with new 2MW Tsukuba project

January 23, 2025
Benex Tsukuba 1 Solar Port
Japan Benex focuses on developing solar power plants on rented logistics facility rooftops. (Image: Japan Benex)

On January 18, 2025, Japan Benex commissioned “Benex Tsukuba 1 Solar Port,” a 1.4MWAC/2.1MWDC rooftop solar power plant in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture. With that, its operational portfolio of rented logistics facility rooftop power plants grew to 28 projects totaling 50.2MWDC.

The latest power plant is installed on the rooftop of LF Tsukuba, a logistics facility developed by Cushman & Wakefield Asset Management. It comprises of 3,536 Chint Solar panels and is expected to generate approximately 2.3GWh per year. Inverters were supplied by Sungrow.

Initially, the power plant was awarded a 10.39 yen/kWh FIT in Japan’s 10th solar auction held in FY2021. However, the FIT-certification was canceled in May 2024. The power plant was re-certified in August 2024, likely to enable corporate PPAs combined with the newer FIP scheme and due to the fact that rooftop solar has been treated favorably compared to ground-mounted from October 2023.

From then until the end of FY2024, the FIP price for rooftop solar projects 10kW and larger has been fixed at 12 yen per kWh. While it will be lowered to 11.5 yen in FY2025, that is still considerably higher than the sub-10 yen/kWh offered for ground-mounted projects that are 50kW and larger.

While Japan Benex owns some ground-mounted solar power plants, they make up a minority of its 45-power plant, 59.2MWDC portfolio.

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