On October 16, 2024, Hyuga Biomass Power Generation LLC commissioned the 50MW Hyuga Biomass Power Plant in Hyuga City, Miyazaki Prefecture, in the Kyushu TSO area.
Construction on the power plant, which was first announced in April 2021 and originally scheduled to commission in November of this year, started in 2022. Thirty-five percent of the operating company is owned by Aoyama Solar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Itochu, another 35% by Osaka Gas, 25% by Tokyo Century, and 5% by Tokyo Enesys.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Mitsubishi Power was in charge of the project’s engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC), while Daigas Gas and Power Solution and Tokyo Enesys were in charge of owner’s engineering.
The power plant will be operated and maintained (O&M) by Tokyo Enesys and the power it generates will be sold to Kyushu Electric Power Transmission and Distribution at fixed price per kWh under the feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme for 20 years. When the project was FIT certified in March 2017, the price for woody biomass power plants was 24 yen/kWh.
Primarily, the power plant will be fueled using wood pellets supplied by Itochu and wood chips supplied by Green Power Fuel, which is a joint venture between Osaka Gas and a pair of biomass fuel-related companies. The power plant will also use palm kernel shells (PKS). Hakko Transportation will be in charge of domestic logistics.
Hyuga Biomass Power Plant is the fifth operational biomass power plant in Osaka Gas’s portfolio and the second such power plant for Itochu.
