Oji to inject USD 232m in 2 biomass plants in Japan - report

Dec 28, 2012 - Japanese paper maker Oji Holdings Corp (TYO:3861) is to invest JPY 20 billion (USD 232m/EUR 176m) in two biomass power facilities in Japan, the chairman of Oji Green Resources Co told Bloomberg in an interview.

Shoji Fujiwara said in the interview that the power plants, which will use wood as fuel, will be located on the islands of Hokkaido and Kyushu. The facilities are expected to start producing power in around three years.

The two facilities are in line with Oji's strategy to invest JPY 60 billion in renewable power, Fujiwara was quoted as saying. That comes as the company is looking to take advantage of the government feed-in-tariffs for renewable energy introduced in Japan in July.

Oji has long been generating power from biomass sources and owns the technology for the facilities, according to Fujiwara. It will sell power from the plants to utilities, potentially including Kyushu Electric Power Co (TYO:9508) and Hokkaido Electric Power Co (TYO:9509), with sales to each of them estimated at JPY 2 billion a year, he added.

The company is also mulling over building two new solar power plants on Hokkaido and in Tokushima prefecture, in addition to the one it plans to commission in Shiranuka town next August, Fujiwara commented. He also told Bloomberg that Oji planned to increase hydropower capacity on Hokkaido by 20% to 1.2 GWh by March 2016 through plant renovation.

(JPY 100.0 = USD 1.160/EUR 0.881)

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