Chubu Electric Power Miraiz launched virtual PPAs with over 15 offtakers for the output of two biomass power plants in Gifu Prefecture that are partially owned by its parent Chubu Electric Power, the company announced on May 1, 2026.
According to the statements, on April 1, 2026, it began supplying the non-fossil certificates (NFCs) from the 7.5MW Godo Biomass Power Plant in Kobe Town to FTS, Kojima Industries and its group company Uchihama Kasei, Meiwa Kogyo, Kodama Plastics, Pacific Industrial, and Fuji Electric. The asset generates approximately 53GWh annually.
Virtual PPA operations of the second asset, the 7.1MW Minokamo Biomass Power Plant in Minokamo City, commenced on May 1, 2026. Offtakers include Athena Kogyo, KYB, Skylark Holdings, Nabeya Bi-tech Kaisha, and Nippon Thompson. FTS, Kojima Industries, and the latter’s group companies Plamac, Howa Plastics, Maruwa Electronic & Chemical, and Kyowa Electric & Chemical are also buying NFCs associated with the facility’s output, which is estimated at 50GWh per year.
Pacific Industries disclosed it will procure about 15GWh annually and use the NFCs to offset the emissions from its factories in Gifu Prefecture. Nippon Thompson said it will buy approximately 5GWh per year for about 17 years (the power plant’s remaining FIP contract period), adding to the 5GWh per year it agreed to source from Chubu Electric Power Miraiz under a virtual PPA for Aoyama Kogen Wind Farm’s output. Details about other offtakers were not provided.
Godo Biomass Power Plant was commissioned in April 2023 and is owned by Gifu Seino Green Power LLC, a 50:50 joint venture between Chubu Electric Power and Marubeni Clean Power. Minokamo Biomass Power Plant, in which the utility holds a 40% stake alongside Sago and Mitsubishi HC Capital’s 30% stakes, followed in October 2023.
Both facilities use primarily thinned wood sourced locally in Gifu Prefecture. They were certified under the feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme in FY2020 and FY2019, respectively, when 2MW and larger biomass power plants using such fuel were offered a 32 yen per kWh tariff for 20 years. To enable the PPAs, they were converted to the feed-in-premium (FIP) scheme.
The two assets follow several other biomass power plants, including the 12.4MW Hachinohe and the 50MW Wakayama Gobo, that switched from FIT to FIP amid growing interest in PPAs and sourcing non-FIT NFCs. Chubu Electric Power Miraiz previously launched a similar multi-offtaker scheme for the 52.7MW Fukuyama Biomass Power Plant, in which its parent company holds a 50% stake.
