Chubu Electric Power and partners began commercial operation of the 28.11MW Green Power Sakaiminato biomass power plant in Sakaiminato City, Tottori Prefecture, on August 3, 2026, the companies announced on the same day.
According to the statement, the asset is expected to generate approximately 200GWh per year. It is fueled with wood pellets and wood chips made from thinned wood, construction waste, and other materials from the Chugoku region. Construction of the power plant began in February 2024. Both groundbreaking and commissioning took place approximately three months behind the timeline presented by the utility when first announcing the project.
METI data shows the power plant was certified under the feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme in FY2016, when general wood biomass projects of all sizes were eligible for 20-year, 24-yen-per-kWh contracts, with separate rates applying to other fuel categories such as thinned wood (32 yen) and construction waste (13 yen).
Green Power Sakaiminato is owned by the special purpose company (SPC) Sakaiminato Showamachi Biomass Hatsuden LLC. Chubu Electric Power holds a 44.9% interest in the project company. New Circle Energy, a joint venture between a Marunouchi Infrastructure-managed fund and New Energy Development, owns 25%, Inabata & Co. 20%, Chubu Plant Service 5.1%, and NX Sakaiminato Kairiku and Sanko 2.5% each.
The project secured a 12 billion yen project finance loan arranged by SBI Shinsei Bank, with Tottori Bank acting as a co-arranger, in early 2023.
Chubu Electric Power holds stakes in multiple other biomass projects, including the 1.99MW Yahaba Biomass Power Plant commissioned in May 2026. It converted several of those, such as the 7.5MW Godo and 7.1MW Minokamo in Gifu Prefecture and the 52.7MW Fukuyama Biomass Power Plant, from FIT to the feed-in-premium (FIP) scheme to enable PPAs arranged by its retail arm Chubu Electric Power Miraiz.
