In Japan, petro-industry major Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd (Idemitsu) has announced that it will go ahead to commercialize a 50 MW biomass power plant at its Tokuyama Complex in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Service operation is scheduled for FY 2022.
The Tokuyama Complex is currently Idemitsu’s main facility in its chemicals business and will be reborn as a new base of activities for non-fossil fuel energy, intended to contribute to new methods of preventing global warming. This biomass power project utilizes the former refinery site and existing infrastructure.
Following the commencement of commercial operations, the biomass power plant will supply 360 GWh per annum to the electricity grid under the feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme.
The plant will use imported wood pellets and palm kernel shells (PKS) as fuel, around 230 000 tonnes annually. However, considering that around 70 percent (25.08 million ha) of the total land of Japan (37.8 million ha) is forest, this project plans to use domestically sourced biomass fuels such as unused wood from forest-thinning activities and wood industry residues over the medium to long term.
Through these efforts, Tokuyama Complex aims to “build and further develop sustainable forestry, forest revitalization, regional revitalization, and a recycling-based economy, all grounded in consideration for environmental protection.”
