Machiokoshi Partner secured financing from The Minato Bank for two solar grazing projects in Hokkaido totaling 3.8MWAC, parent company Machiokoshi Energy said last month.
The statement said the bank agreed to provide a 496 million yen, 17-and-a-half-year loan for Kushiro No. 1 Power Plant and Watenbetsu No. 3 Solar Power Plant that Machiokoshi is developing in Kushiro City and Shiranuka Town, respectively. Both of the power plants are approximately 1.9MWAC and are expected to generate about 2.5GWh annually. The planned commissioning date was not disclosed.
Machiokoshi plans to sell the output through a 20-year, fixed price PPA. Hokuriku Electric Power will serve as the arrangement’s retailer delivering the power to an undisclosed large-scale offtaker.
Separately from Kushiro No. 1 and Watenbetsu No. 3, Machiokoshi together with partners is also developing a larger, 9.6MWAC Shiranuka Solar Grazing Power Plant, which will be monetized using the feed-in-premium (FIP) scheme in combination with a 20-year virtual PPA supplying non-fossil certificates to MUFG Bank.
The company designs its projects to enable sheep grazing, reflecting a broader shift toward non-traditional solar installations, including agrisolar and floating solar, due to the diminishing availability of sites suitable for larger-scale traditional solar projects built on unutilized land.
Before entering solar, Machiokoshi commissioned a 5MW geothermal power plant in Kumamoto Prefecture in March 2024.
