
Osaka Gas acquired a 40% stake in two FIT solar power plants with a combined output of 29.9MWAC/40.3MWDC in Iwate Prefecture from Sonnedix, the company announced on December 25, 2024.
The larger of the two, the 20MWAC/26.5MWDC “Tanabe Solar Power Plant,” was commissioned in January 2022 and is owned by Ecoplexus Yamada Project LLC. The smaller, 9.9MWAC/13.7MWDC “Hirono Solar Power Plant” was commissioned in September 2022 and is owned by Tsubaki Solar LLC. Both power plants use JA Solar panels and TMEIC inverters and were constructed by juwi Shizen.
When the two power plants were feed-in-tariff (FIT) certified in FY2013, the FIT price offered for solar projects 10kW or larger was 36 yen per kWh. Both power plants’ FIT contracts are valid until August 2040. Following the acquisition, Osaka Gas will purchase all of the generated power and non-fossil certificates through a contract with Tohoku Electric Power Network, the area’s TSO.
This is the third time for Osaka Gas to acquire a stake in power plants owned by Sonnedix. In 2022, it acquired a 40% stake in three power plants totaling 131MWDC. The following year it acquired 40% of Sonnedix’s 42MWDC Sano Solar Power Plant in Tochigi Prefecture, bringing Osaka Gas’s investment in Sonnedix’s power plants to 40% of 213MWDC.