Toshiba Corporation has announced that it has begun commercial operation of its first ever biomass power plant. Located in Omuta, Japan the 50 MWe facility was converted from coal in a move to broaden power plant system solutions by adding biomass to its renewable energy technology portfolio.
Japan-headed global technology major Toshiba Corporation has announced that it has begun commercial operation of its first ever biomass power plant.
Operated by Toshiba subsidiary Sigma Power Ariake Corporation (SPAC) in Omuta city, Fukuoka prefecture, the newly retrofitted 50 MWe Mikawa Power Plant, has been equipped to burn biomass in a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler, and can handle a variety of fuels.
– We are pleased to commission our very first eco-friendly biomass power plant. We are building a broad portfolio of environmentally friendly power technologies, from renewables through to carbon capture, and we also continue to test and develop leading-edge steam turbines and generators that offer higher efficiency and improved performance, said Takao Konishi, Vice President of the Thermal & Hydro Power Systems & Services Division in Toshiba’s Energy Systems & Solutions Company in a statement.
First commissioned in 2005, the plant was originally built to use coal. Now retrofitted to use biomass the plant will be fuelled with palm kernel shells (PKS). SPAC will import around 200 000 tonnes of PKS, mainly from Indonesia via Miike port in Omuta. A newly-built roofed yard has a storage capacity of 30 000 tonnes.
Demonstrator for CCS
Mikawa Power Plant is an important facility for research and deployment of new technologies, where Toshiba’s forward-looking projects currently include a demonstration of its carbon capture technology. The company is currently undertaking construction of a large-scale carbon capture facility on the Plant, as a part of the five-year “Demonstration of Sustainable CCS Technology Project” sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment.
Together with the deployment of biomass power plant technology, Toshiba will continue to develop power plant system solutions that realize energy generation with fewer environmental impacts.
