Monthly Report

SMFL Mirai Partners, Shizen Energy acquire floating solar operator with 12 FIT assets totaling 18.6MWDC

December 5, 2024
Shizen SMFL Mira Partners Floating Solar
This is the first time for both companies to acquire floating solar power plants. (Image: Shizen Energy)

SMFL Mirai Partners, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing, and Shizen Energy jointly acquired solar power plant operator Suiden Mizuumi Ichi from France’s Ciel et Terre, the companies announced on December 5, 2024.

Suiden Mizuumi Ichi’s 15.8MWAC/18.6MWDC operational portfolio includes 12 floating solar power plants built on agricultural reservoirs ranging from 500kWAC to 1.99MWAC that were commissioned between October 2016 and September 2021.

Six of those power plants (7.84MWAC/8.73MWDC) are in the Shikoku TSO area, three (4.94MWAC/5.84MWDC) are in Kansai, two (1.00MWAC/1.50MWDC) are in Chugoku, and one (1.99MWAC/2.55MWDC) is in Chubu.

The power plants generate approximately 21.84GWh per year and are all operated under the feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme with their 20-year contracts expiring between September 2036 and July 2041.

The first eight power plants were certified in FY2016 when the FIT was 24 yen per kWh. By the time the last four power plants were certified in late 2019 and early 2020, FIT prices for larger solar assets were being decided through auctions with prices hovering approximately 10 to 13 yen per kWh.

This is the first time for SMFL Mirai Partners and Shizen Energy to add floating solar power plants to their portfolios. However, according to their statement, “There are 150,000 reservoirs across Japan that are seen as promising new locations for solar power generation, and the potential for the introduction of floating solar power generation facilities is said to be approximately 39GW.”

With that, the two companies plan to use the know-how gained through the acquisition to further expand their floating solar power generation business.

The two companies already partnered in the past when, in late 2021, they jointly acquired a portfolio of six operational solar power plants totaling 12.3MW in Kyushu and Chugoku.

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