
Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, TEPCO Energy Partner (EP), and Jyuyon Nihon Solar LLC, a special purpose entity established by Daini Denryoku, signed a memorandum of understanding related to an offsite corporate PPA on August 27, 2024.
According to the companies’ statement, Jyuyon Nihon Solar will develop 30 small solar power plants totaling 1.485MW from which it will supply power to three buildings, all in the Tokyo TSO area, owned by Tokio Marine & Nichido. TEPCO EP will sleeve the PPA and supply additional power to the buildings as necessary. The PPA is expected to commission in December 2025.
The three buildings to be covered by the PPA include Tama Tokyo Marine & Nichido Building in Tama City, La Mer Sanbancho in Chiyoda City, and Sino Omiya South Wing in Saitama City. The 3.2GWh expected to be supplied each year will account for approximately 20% of the three buildings’ consumption.
Consisting of 30 power plants averaging under 50kW each, the deal demonstrates the overall trend in the Japanese market toward PPAs with portfolios of dozens of small solar power plant due to the increasing difficulty of securing land suitable for larger projects.
While, according to the statement, the PPA will be TEPCO EP’s first with a general insurance company, the Japan Energy Hub PPA module shows it will not be the retailer’s first PPA with an insurance company overall. In February of this year, the company signed a PPA as a retailer sleeving the flow of power between Suntech Energy Development and Sumitomo Life Insurance.