50 MW biomass power plant starts up in Japan

The Japanese Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. has commissioned MAN Diesel & Turbo to supply the central turbine technology for a biomass power station in the Bay of Tokyo. Equipped with a steam turbine group from MAN, the power station of special purpose company Ichihara Biomass Power Co. Ltd. will generate around 50 megawatts of electrical power. As one of the largest biomass plants in Japan, the plant will produce renewable energy from wood pellets and palm kernel shells.

The electrical energy will mostly be fed into the public grid in order to also profit from feed-in tariff. Following the renunciation of atomic energy, natural gas has become a much more important source of energy in Japan. With the feed-in tariff for renewable energies that was increased in 2012, the Japanese government is now specifically promoting the decarbonization of the energy sector, for example through generation of electricity from biomass.

"The project is an example of worldwide transformation in the energy sector, which is now also gaining more momentum in Japan," said Holger Kube, Vice President and Head of the Power Generation Segment at MAN Diesel & Turbo in Oberhausen. "After the earthquake disaster in Fukushima, Japan is focusing on a changed energy mix in which renewable energies have now reached a share well in excess of 10%. Turbines and motors from MAN Diesel & Turbo are fundamental technologies for the decarbonization of energy generation in order to produce electricity and heat in an efficient and environmentally-friendly way."