US-based Enviva Partners, LP (Enviva), the world's largest industrial wood pellet producer, and Japan-headed utility Electric Power Development Co., Ltd (J-Power), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the long-term, large-scale supply of sustainable wood pellets from Enviva's manufacturing facilities in the US Southeast to J-Power’s coal-fired power plants in Japan.
In April 2021, Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, nearly doubled its 2030 target to cut carbon emissions by 40 percent, up from 26 percent in 2013, joining other countries shifting from coal and other fossil fuels to accelerate the fight against climate change.
Headquartered in Tokyo, J-Power has 18.25 GW of power generation capacity at 97 locations in Japan, and another 6.54 GW of capacity at 33 locations in Australia, China, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States (US).
In Japan, hydropower represents about 47 percent, and thermal power about 50 percent of J-Power’s generation capacity, with wind power making up the balance. The company is developing renewable power facilities such as wind or geothermal, with a plan to increase capacity to 1.5 GW by 2025.
With its “Blue Mission 2050” roadmap announced in February 2021, J-Power has outlined its goals to reduce 40 percent of carbon emissions by 2030 compared to the three-year average of actual emissions in 2017-2019 and to reach net-zero (carbon neutrality) by 2050.
The roadmap includes a transition from coal to carbon-free hydrogen, the development of renewable power, the development of nuclear power as a carbon-free source, and the expansion of the power grid as Japan’s core infrastructure.
Co-firing with biomass
To further align with the government decarbonization policy, J-Power, which has a total of 8.4 GW of coal-fired power capacity, recently announced various plans, including phase-out of aged thermal power plants and co-firing of biomass or ammonia.
Under the agreement, the parties will jointly evaluate the most sustainable and cost-effective means to deliver on the potential of the coal-to-biomass conversion project, such as security of supply, port reception, delivery and storage logistics, safety measures, and project economics.
The investment will leverage J-Power’s existing coal-fired power plants by re-purposing them via conversion, resulting potentially in both dedicated as well as co-fired biomass plants.
We are confident that our partnership with Enviva, which has a track record of supplying biomass sustainably and reliably, will firmly support J-Power’s efforts in realizing carbon neutrality. By combining J-Power’s highly efficient technology to utilize solid fuel and Enviva’s global supply capability, we are meeting the social expectations of achieving carbon neutrality coupled by a stable energy supply, said Shinsuke Suzuki, Executive Officer, Director of Thermal Energy & Value Creation Department at J-Power.
Converting existing coal-fired power plants to sustainable biomass usage is one of the quickest, most cost-effective ways to reduce the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of a plant by more than 80 percent while retaining jobs throughout the supply chain.
Coal-to-biomass conversion projects enable former coal plants to continue operating cost-efficiently with their existing supply, generation, and grid infrastructure. Unlike wind and solar energy, biomass is not dependent on grid expansion.
Build new pellet plants
Enviva currently owns and operates 10 pelleting plants with a combined production capacity of approximately 6.2 million tonnes-per-annum (tpa), most of which is spoken for in existing long-term off-take agreements
The agreement with Enviva is designed to develop an executable and investable plan under which Enviva will build new infrastructure to produce and deliver up to 5 million tpa) of pellets to permanently replace coal in J-Power’s existing coal-fired power plants, significantly curbing the utility’s GHG emissions.
The MoU provides a framework to advance the role of biomass as a renewable and sustainable energy source and help J-Power meet its “Blue Mission” goal to be carbon-neutral by 2050.
Certified sustainable
Biomass ultimately provided by Enviva under the agreement will be certified under the European Union’s (EU) current sustainability criteria, which maintains and improves long-term forest health, growth, and capacity.
According to Enviva, the EU’s sustainability standard guarantees biomass is only sourced from sustainably managed forests that are regenerated, ensuring that carbon stocks are stable or growing, that forest harvesting is legal, and prevents sourcing from nature protection areas, taking soil quality and biodiversity into account.
Earlier this year, Enviva announced its own Net-Zero Commitment that will reduce, eliminate, or offset all of its direct emissions by 2030.
The company has agreed to adopt innovative and improved lower-emission processes through investments in projects that result in real, additional, and third-party verified net-carbon reductions as part of this ambitious plan to cut carbon emissions from fossil fuels and improve energy efficiency.
