Japan’s Erex cuts biomass-fired power output in June

Japanese renewable electricity producer Erex reduced its biomass-fired power generation output in June compared with a year earlier, according to the company data.

Erex's combined biomass-fired output across the 50MW Saiki, the 75MW Buzen, and the 49MW Nakagusuku power plant in June fell by 8.5pc from a year earlier to 108GWh. The company does not publish output data for its 75MW Ofunato plant, while the 20MW Tosa plant has been under periodic maintenances since March.

Erex operates a total of 269MW of biomass capacity in Japan, including Ofunato, burning mainly imported wood pellets and palm kernel shells. The company aims to start coal and biomass co-firing generation at the 149MW Itoigawa plant that has only consumed coal so far.

The company plans to start operations at two more biomass plants, the 75MW Sakaide Hayashida in 2025 and the 300MW Niigata Mega Bio around 2029-2030.

Erex is also accelerating biomass projects in southeast Asia, aiming to build up to 19 generation plants in Vietnam and five in Cambodia that will burn mainly wood residue and chips, in addition to several wood pellet plants in both countries.

By Takeshi Maeda

Erex biomass generation (MWh)