
Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Company’s (SMFL) subsidiary focused on real estate and energy SMFL MIRAI Partners formed subsidiary with Smart Energy, a company engaged in solar power plant operations and maintenance (O&M) and asset management among other things, established a joint venture to acquire 400 low-voltage power plants totaling 40MW from Marubeni, SMFL announced on July 1, 2024.
According to the statement, the transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of fiscal year 2024 (March 31, 2025). The power plants will not utilize the guaranteed-revenue feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme and will instead be monetized by supplying power directly to consumers through corporate PPAs.
Smart Energy, which was established in 2007 and has experience with managing a large number of small assets, helped with structuring the deal and will be responsible for asset management, as well as O&M. SMFL will use its existing customer base to secure corporate PPA offtakers. The Japan Energy Hub CPPA database shows SMFL Mirai Partners signed corporate PPA deals with at least six companies to date.