
Engine and machinery manufacturer Yanmar’s group company Yanmar Energy System and SMFL Mirai Partners formed a joint venture, which will supply Yanmar Holdings with renewable energy certificates through a 150MWDC virtual PPA, the companies announced on November 27, 2024.
The joint venture will aim to develop the capacity by 2030. Partial supply will start later this year, however, with the joint venture planning to acquire a portfolio of 9 high-voltage solar power plants totaling 10.9MW from SMFL Mirai Partners. The nine power plants will be aggregated by an undisclosed aggregator, which will sell the generated power into the wholesale market and the renewable energy certificates to Yanmar.
“In this initiative, SMFL Mirai Partners can provide environmental value with additionality to Yanmar Holdings in a short period of time due to having started the development of the solar power plants ahead of time, even when there were still uncertainties about which company would be their offtaker,” said the statement.
With Yanmar having facilities across Japan, the virtual PPA structure will allow it to use the purchased renewable energy certificates regardless of which TSO area the respective facility is located in.
This agreement, according to the Japan Energy Hub PPA database, is the largest virtual PPA announced in Japan to date, surpassing a 115MW deal between RENOVA and Murata Manufacturing announced in May 2023.