Decarbonisation – a global goal!

Enviva Partners, a global renewable energy company specializing in sustainable wood bioenergy, and Tokyo-based utility Electric Power Development Co., have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the long-term, large-scale supply of sustainable wood biomass from Enviva’s manufacturing facilities in the U.S. Southeast to J-Power’s coal-fired power plants in Japan.

The agreement is designed to develop an executable and investable plan under which Enviva will build new infrastructure to produce and deliver up to 5 million metric tons of sustainable wood pellets annually to permanently replace coal in J-Power’s existing coal-fired power plants, significantly curbing the utility’s greenhouse-gas emissions. The MOU provides a framework to advance the role of biomass as a renewable and sustainable energy source and help J-Power meet its “Blue Mission” goal to be carbon-neutral by 2050.

“Climate change is a global challenge requiring a global solution. Enviva has an established track record of delivering a dependable, scalable, and sustainable product, which today delivers substantial and deep decarbonization of energy to generators and industrials around the world,” said Thomas Meth, co-founder and executive vice president of sales and marketing at Enviva. “We are delighted that our partnership with J-Power can help this leading utility in Japan reach its climate goals with reliable, baseload energy that complements the intermittency of wind and solar.”

In April, Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, nearly doubled its 2030 target to cut carbon emissions by 40%, up from 26% in 2013, joining other countries shifting from coal and other fossil fuels to accelerate the fight against climate change. To further align with the government decarbonization policy, J-Power, which has a total of 8.4 gigawatts of coal-fired power capacity, recently announced various plans, including phase-out of aged thermal power plants and co-firing of biomass or ammonia.

Under the agreement, the parties will jointly evaluate the most sustainable and cost-effective means to deliver on the potential of the coal-to-biomass conversion project, such as security of supply, port reception, delivery and storage logistics, safety measures, and project economics. The investment will leverage J-Power’s existing coal-fired power plants by re-purposing them via conversion, resulting potentially in both dedicated as well as co-fired biomass plants.

Enviva and J-Power Join Efforts to Decarbonize Power Generation in Japan