Cosmo Eco Power will convert the 48MW Chuuki Wind Farm from the feed-in-tariff (FIT) to the feed-in-premium (FIP) scheme and supply a portion of the non-fossil certificates (NFCs) generated at the power plant to JR West through a virtual PPA, the company announced on March 26, 2025.
Under the agreement signed on March 24, 2025, about 40GWh of NFCs, accounting for about 40% of the power plant’s 101GWh annual generation, will be supplied to JR West for 16 years. The certificates will help decarbonize the company’s railroad business. The deal, which is JR West’s first VPPA, follows the two companies’ August 2024 memorandum of understanding on expanding renewables use.
The PPA was enabled by a regulatory change coming into effect in April 2025 (covered in The Japan Power Industry Executive) that will allow the conversion of FIT assets commissioned before FY2022 to FIP to trade NFCs directly between generators and power consumers as part of the government’s efforts to promote the use the newer scheme.
Chuuki Wind Farm was commissioned in April 2021. Cosmo Eco Power FIT-certified the project in FY2016 when the tariff for 20kW+ onshore wind power plants was 22 yen per kWh for 20 years. After conversion, Cosmo Eco Power will be eligible for FIP support until March 2041. The company has not disclosed whether it has secured an offtaker for the portion of the generation not part of the PPA with JR West.
The Japan Energy Hub PPA database shows that both companies signed multiple PPAs previously. Among others, Cosmo Eco Power disclosed an off-site PPA with Amazon involving its 33MW Shin-Mutsu Ogawara Wind Farm. JR West disclosed multiple solar off-site PPAs covering part of its consumption in Kansai, Chugoku, and Hokuriku TSO areas.
