Chubu Electric Power and its partners began commercial operation of the 52.7MW Fukuyama Biomass Power Plant on July 30, 2025. On the same day, Chubu Electric Power Miraiz launched a virtual PPA scheme delivering the non-fossil certificates (NFCs) linked to the asset’s output to industrial offtakers in Chubu and Kansai.
According to the statement, the power plant, located in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture, will use imported wood pellets and locally-produced thinned wood chips. It is expected to generate about 380GWh annually. The NFCs will be sold to, among others, Aichi Steel, Somic Ishikawa, Daiwa Can, DMG Mori, Tokai Rika, Toray, Hamamatsu Photonics, and Fuji Electric.
Construction of the power plant began in January 2023. METI data shows it was originally certified under the feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme in FY2016, when general woody biomass projects were offered 20-year contracts at 24 yen per kWh and generation using thinned wood was priced at 32 yen per kWh. To enable the PPA, the power plant will need to operate under the feed-in-premium (FIP) scheme, which allows direct sale of power and NFCs.
The asset is owned by Fukuyama Biomass Power Plant LLC, a special purpose company (SPC) in which Chubu Electric Power holds a 50% economic interest. Inabata & Co. owns 23.2%, Taihei Dengyo 12%, Tokyo Sangyo 10%, and Kanadevia 2%. Aichi Kaiun, Maruka Holdings, MEC Corporation, Fujii Shoji, and Solariant Capital have sub-1% shares.
The deal marks Chubu Electric Power Miraiz’s first virtual PPA using a biomass power plant and follows other non-traditional structures, such as an the on-/off-site hybrid Enshu Project that will tie together on-site solar generation at 15 companies and multi-offtaker deals for NFCs linked to its parent Chubu EPCO’s 7.8MW Abegawa hydropower plant and the 15MW Aoyama Kogen Wind Farm being repowered by its group company C-Tech.
