Harebare, a joint venture between Hokkaido Electric Power and the renewable power plant operator and services provider ARC, will develop and build 14 new solar power plants totaling 12MW by the end of FY2026, the utility serving Japan’s northernmost TSO area announced on April 1, 2025.
The power plants, to be located in Hokkaido’s Chitose, Kitahiroshima, Eniwa, and Ebetsu cities, will be used for off-site PPAs sleeved by Hokkaido EPCO. The first such deal, which will involte the supply of power from a 280kW asset in Eniwa to Daido Life Insurance, was disclosed on the same day as the plans to expand the joint portfolio.
Hokkaido EPCO and ARC established Harebare in July 2023. At the beginning of their collaboration, the two companies targeted building 10 solar power plants in Chitose and Kitahiroshima totaling 16MW by the end of FY2024. According to Japan Energy Hub’s PPA database, the joint venture disclosed four off-site PPAs corresponding to those assets including a 12MW deal with the retailer Aeon Hokkaido.
The expansion of the two companies’ partnership comes as increasingly more commercial and industrial power consumers are looking to move a portion of their power sourcing from traditional retail plans to PPAs.
