Commencement of Abekawa Hydroelectric Power Station commercial operation - Local companies support renewable energy development through virtual PPA

Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (President & Director: Kingo Hayashi, "Chubu Electric Power") has completed construction of Abekawa Hydroelectric Power Station (the "Station") and started commercial operation today.
The Station is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power plant with a generating output of 7,830 kW, utilizing the flowing water of the Abe River in the Abe River System.

We appreciate the cooperation and understanding of the local community and relevant parties in the construction of the Station.
At the same time, Chubu Electric Power Miraiz Co., Inc. (President: Hironori Kamiya; "Miraiz") today started providing an off-site virtual PPA service (Note 1) utilizing this Station to its customers, including the following eight companies: AGC TECHNO GLASS Co.,Ltd. (President & CEO: Hiroshi Yamakawa), The Shizuoka Bank, Ltd. (President: Minoru Yagi), SOMIC ISHIKAWA INC. (President: Kaname Saito), Toyota Boshoku Corporation (President: Masayoshi Shirayanagi), Nabeya Bi-tech Kaisha (President & CEO: Yujiro Okamoto), Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (Representative Director and President, Chief Executive Officer: Tadashi Maruno), Merck Electronics Ltd. (President: Masaru Nagata), and Yamaha Corporation (President and Representative Executive Officer: Atsushi Yamaura).

(Note 1) This service provides only environmental value (value that can be shown to have zero CO₂ emissions) derived from renewable energy sources installed in an off-site location of the customer.

Through this initiative, Miraiz procures environmental value (non-fossil certificates (Note 2)) from this Station and deliver them to customers mainly in Shizuoka Prefecture (Note 3).
By having customers commit to long-term continuous procurement of environmental value, power producers can expect stable business operations, which will lead to the expansion and long-term utilization of renewable energy.
The customers, including the eight companies, will be able to secure stable, long-term environmental value derived from the renewable energy sources produced by the Station for the contract period of 20 years starting today. This service is expected to reduce total annual CO₂ emissions by approximately 17,000 tons.

(Note 2) It is an environmental value certificate of electricity generated from non-fossil power sources that do not emit CO₂, including renewable energy.
(Note 3) Since customers have electricity supply and demand contracts with Miraiz, electricity procured by Miraiz mainly from fossil power sources and wholesale power exchanges will also be supplied to customers.

Conventional off-site PPA service (physical PPA (Note 4)) requires the customer to simultaneously consume electricity generated by the customer's dedicated renewable energy source, so Miraiz recommends an economically optimal scale of renewable energy power sources by checking the customer's hourly power consumption. Therefore, for customers such as factories where power consumption differs significantly between operating and non-operating days of the production line, the amount of power consumption on non-operating days becomes the upper limit of the amount of installation. The problem was that it was not possible to cover all of the electricity consumption on operating days with electricity generated by the customer's dedicated renewable energy power source.

(Note 4) A service that delivers electricity generated by a dedicated renewable energy power source installed off the customer's premises and environmental value to the customer as a set.

The virtual PPA, on the other hand, provides an environmental value that is separate from the electricity generated by the renewable energy source, allowing the customer to install the electricity generated by the renewable energy source flexibly and practically regardless of whether the production line is in operation or not, day or night, season or other factors.
The Chubu Electric Power Group has set a goal of expanding renewable energy to more than 3.2 million kW (8 billion kWh) through ownership, construction, and maintenance around 2030. We will continue to actively develop power sources and promote the development and utilization of renewable energy sources with local customers by providing services that meet their needs, thereby contributing to the realization of a decarbonized society.

Profile of Abekawa Hydroelectric Power Station

Overview of off-site virtual PPA service using Abekawa Hydroelectric Power Station