Japanese biomass power company Forest Energy plans to begin commercial operations at a 7.1MW biomass-fired power generation plant at Fukui city in the central prefecture of Shizuoka by the October 2023 to March 2024 period.

The company plans to use 90,000 t/yr of wooden biomass, mainly unused biomass accumulated within Shizuoka, to generate electricity at the plant. Forest Energy registered the plant to the country's feed-in-tariff (FiT) scheme in April.

Forest Energy is also targeting to start commercial operations at a 1.8MW biomass power plant in Japan's western prefecture of Wakayama by the spring of 2021. The plant will consume 20,000 t/yr of domestic unused wooden biomass.

Japanese firms, including non-energy companies, are getting involved in biomass power projects to take advantage of the FiT scheme that ensures power producers can sell electricity for 20 years at a fixed price.

Japanese upstream company Japex is buying a 39.9pc stake in the 75MW Chofu biomass power project at Shimonoseki city in Yamaguchi, as it looks to enhance its renewable energy business.

This article is reproduced at www.argusmedia.com