Marubeni to construct three mega-solar power plants in Niigata

Marubeni has signed an agreement with Mibugawa Power Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marubeni, for the construction of three mega-solar power plants in Sekikawa Village, Iwafune County in Niigata Prefecture, Japan.

The plants will be managed by Mibugawa while the construction will begin in July and will conclude in December 2014.

Mibugawa will build and operate the plants, with the support of Sekikawa Village, at three locations owned by either Sekikawa Village or private owners.

With total capacity of approximately 2,700kW, the plants are planned to collectively produce approximately 2.6 million kWh per annum, consistent to the annual electricity consumption of 700 ordinary houses.

Under Japan’s feed-in-tariff scheme, the generated power from the plants will be sold for over 20 years.

The environmentally friendly mega-solar plants will be constructed by Marubeni using disused spaces such as closed school grounds located in Sekikawa Village.

Mibugawa’s more than 50 years of renewable energy power plant operational know-how as well as operational experience of the 4.3MW mega-solar power project in Shimizu Town, Hokkaido will be utilized to stable the plants operation.

Currently, Marubeni operates three mega-solar projects including 82MW in Oita, 4.3MW in Hokkaido and 1.1MW in Miyazaki while two more projects which include 49MW in Aichi/Mie and 28.3MW in Miyagi under development program.

In order to meet society’s demand for the reduction of environmental impact, the company plans to further expand utilization of renewable energy such as wind power, geothermal power and small/medium-scale hydropower generation.