Japan: Number of biomass generation facilities to increase rapidly

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ITTO
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It has been about two years after FIT (fixed price power purchase system of renewable energy) was enacted in Japan. Number of plans of power generation facility by biomass use has been increasing rapidly and there are about 80 to 90 plans so far. About 30 will start running in next two years.

Since many plans are still on the table, wood chip prices have been stable yet but soaring demand for biomass will certainly impact many sectors of forest and wood processing industry in coming years.

According to the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, 31 biomass generation facilities have been approved with total generation capacity of 620,000 kw but total power generated by actually operating facilities is only 42,985 kw, 7% of approved total capacity.

There are three operating facilities, which use biomass for fuel as of February this year then Woody Kawai has started in April and Tohsen group will start up in July, Miye Enewood will start in September and Gifu Biomass Power will start in October.

By next spring, Nihon Kaisui, Maniwa Biomass Power, Chugoku Lumber's Hyuga plant and Oji Green Resources will start up. Thus, by this time next year, there will be eight more facilities running.

This creates large demand of low grade wood so there are moves to utilize fiber resources left in the woods such as thinning and unused short chunks, tree tops and branches. They become valuable resources if they are hauled out economically and stably to the users.

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