Shikoku Electric Power commissioned the 1.9MW Kurofujikawa Power Station on March 24, 2025. The run-of-river hydroelectric power plant in Kumakogen Town, Ehime Prefecture, is on the Mae River, which is part of the Niyodo River system.
The run-of-river power plant is expected to generate about 8.5GWh annually, all of which will be sold through the feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme. When it was FIT-certified in FY2020, a 20-year, 27 yen per kWh tariff was offered for hydroelectric assets between 1MW and under 5MW.
Shikoku EPCO processed the necessary paperwork with Kumakogen Town in March 2020 and construction started in June 2021. While the power plant was originally scheduled to begin commercial operation in June 2024, construction completion was delayed to December 2024 due to “additional countermeasure construction work based on the local ground conditions, etc.” Adjustment work required during trial operation led to another delay.
Kurofujikawa is the company’s 58th hydroelectric power plant and its 13th in Ehime Prefecture. Across Shikoku’s three prefectures, the utility’s hydro portfolio includes assets totaling over 1.1GW. Nearly 900MW worth is in Kochi Prefecture.
The power plant’s commissioning comes as Shikoku EPCO works toward its target of building 500MW of new (FY2020 or later) renewables by FY2030 and 2GW by FY2050.
