Japan's Enshu Forest Energy started commercial operations at its 7.1MW biomass-fired power plant in Fukuroi city of Shizuoka prefecture on 16 November.
The Enshu plant will burn 90,000t/yr of wood chips made from unused forest materials and gathered mainly from Shizuoka prefecture. It can generate around 53GWh/yr of electricity, which will be sold under the country's feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme for 20 years.
The plant was initially scheduled to come on line in December, but started two weeks earlier as Enshu Forest Energy, the operating company, completed its safety check and test runs earlier than expected.
Enshu Forest Energy is a joint venture between renewable power developer Forest Energy, Shizuoka Gas and Power and Japanese utility Chubu Electric Power, with each holding 70pc, 25pc and 5pc shares, respectively. Shizuoka Gasa and Power is a subsidiary of gas provider Shizuoka Gas.
Forest Energy runs several biomass generation projects, including the 480kW Tsuwano plant in Shimane prefecture and the 1.8MW Shingu plant in Wakayama prefecture, mainly burning wood chips that are secured domestically.
