France-headed energy utility major ENGIE has announced that it has signed a biomass delivery contract with Sumitomo Corporation for the supply of wood pellets to a power plant in Sakata, Japan. The plant, which has yet to be built, will be operated by its subsidiary Summit Sakata Power Corporation via Summit Energy Corporation also owned by Sumitomo.
According to a statement, the supply agreement secures the delivery of one million tonnes of wood pellets as of 2018, over a period of 10 years. The company is “pleased” to enter a long-term partnership with Sumitomo Corporation in one of it’s “recognized areas of expertise”.
A global actor in biomass supply, asset optimisation, and risk management solutions ENGIE has accumulated over a decade of experience in the supply of its own thermal plants in Europe – including freight, storage and in-land logistics – to develop third-party activities in this field. The company is also one of the founding members of the Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP) initiative and says that its pellet supply is “fully certified and sustainable.”
Recently announced by Sumitomo, the 50 MW Sakata Biomass Power plant is expected to begin construction in June 2016 and expected to be commissioned in May 2018. It will be operated Summit Sakata Power Corporation, a company established in December 2012 and wholly owned by Summit Energy Corporation which in turn is a subsidiary of Sumitomo.
