Page 7 - AsiaElec Week 05 2022

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

JERA to move into Japanese

solar with 1-GW plan

JAPAN JAPAN’S biggest power generator JERA is to corporate customers seeking clean energy.
spend JPY160bn ($1.4bn) to develop 1 GW of JERA plans to buy a minority stake in West
solar capacity in Japan over the next five years by Holdings later this year, Yajima said.
joining with local energy developer West Hold- The two companies will also consider devel-
ings Corp. oping solar power farms outside Japan, they said.
The move marks JERA’s entry into a local West Holdings has developed about 65,000
solar power market and comes as part of its plan solar power projects of around 2 GW in capacity
to expand its renewable energy capacity to 5 GW in Japan and Thailand.
by 2025 from about 1.5 GW now to help combat Fossil fuels still account for 80% of Japan’s
climate change. electricity production, according to 2020 gov-
“We want to become Japan’s biggest solar ernment figures. Coal and gas use recovered
power operator,” Satoshi Yajima, JERA’s manag- after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
ing executive officer, told reporters. However, JERA is still a major fossil fuel
JERA is currently the country’s largest util- developer, and in 2021 submitted environmen-
ity, and is owned by major fossil-fuel generators tal impact assessments to regulators for the con-
TEPCO and Chubu Electric Power. struction of 1,300 MW of LNG capacity at Units
It is a major thermal power generator with 7 and 8 of the Chita thermal power plant (TPP).
70 GW of capacity, but aims to achieve net-zero The new 650-MW units will also have to meet
emissions by 2050. more stringent smoke and warm wastewater
JERA currently generates 30% of Japan’s elec- rules.
tricity and is a major user of LNG, coal and oil as On the other hand, JERA has said that it is to
fuel, all of which is imported. close the coal-fired power plants it views as inef-
Under the business alliance, JERA will ask ficient by 2030 as part of wider plans to achieve
West Holdings to build solar power farms net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide by 2050.
at about 7,000 sites, including former JERA Japan aims to have 24% of its electricity deriv-
power plant sites, and will sell the electricity to ing from renewables by 2030.™

Week 05 02•February•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7