
Marubeni and Kyuden Mirai Energy will establish Amami Yaneden Solar LLC, a joint venture that will aim to develop 10MW of rooftop solar power plants co-located with battery storage and monetized through long-term PPAs on Amami Oshima, one of Japan’s largest islands not connected to the mainland grid, by FY2030.
According to the two companies’ statement, the joint venture will be established later this fiscal year and start operation in April 2025.
“Power supply on Amami Oshima Island mainly depends on thermal generation,” said the statement while adding that an increase in non-dispatchable generation could potentially destabilize power supply due to the grid’s small scale. The plan to establish the joint venture follows a demonstration project done by Marubeni in 2022 to confirm the ability to balance the island’s grid even with an increase in non-dispatchable renewable capacity.
Following the project, Marubeni commercialized the business and currently operates solar power plants co-located with batteries at multiple facilities on the island. The joint venture will aim to further expand the business.
According to Kyushu Electric Power, 11.36MW of solar and 1.99MW of wind was connected to Amami Oshima’s grid as of the end of September 2024.