RENOVA Announces Start Of Operations

RENOVA, Inc. reports that the Tokushima Tsuda Biomass Power Plant at Tokushima City, with a capacity of 74.8 MW started operating on December 9. It’s fueled by wood pellets and palm kernel shells.

The plant is located in the Port of Tokushima-Komatsushima, one of the largest industrial parks in Japan. The Port of Tokushima-Komatsushima used to receive a large amount of foreign timber to meet the rapidly growing domestic demand for housing during the period of high economic growth, but over time the port has been used less and less. With the start of the plant’s operation, the port is expected to be revitalized through the utilization of port facilities for the arrival and departure of fuel transport vessels and the creation of new jobs that will result.

RENOVA also announced that the Morinomiyako Biomass Power Plant at Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, with a capacity of 75 MW) started operation on November 18. It, too, is fueled by wood pellets and palm kernel shells.

The northern part of the Gamo area—where the plant is located—was once home to 3,000 residents, but around 80% of the approximately 1,500 houses in the area were either washed away or completely destroyed by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. The area was later designated as a disaster hazard area in accordance with the Sendai City Earthquake Disaster Reconstruction Plan, and has since been transformed into a major industrial center next to Sendai Port, as part of the Land Readjustment Project for Reconstruction of Disaster-affected Urban Areas in Northern Gamo.

In constructing the biomass power plant at this site, Morinomiyako Biomass Energy G.K. has been proceeding
with the project with consideration for the local community’s desire for the development of their hometown, and for it to be part of the revitalization of the local economy.