Japanese engineering firm Ene-Vision is planning to build a new 75MW biomass power generation plant at Yatsushiro in the country's southern Kumamoto prefecture, taking advantage of the country's feed-in-tariff scheme.

Ene-Vision aims to start construction of the Yatsushiro plant in March next year, targeting for commissioning in January 2023. The plant will burn unspecified volumes of unused domestic wood resources and imported wood pellets.

The ¥30-40bn ($284-378mn) project will produce around 500GWh/yr of electricity to meet demand from around 100,000-120,000 households.

The Yatsushiro plant will be Ene-Vision's third biomass power plant, following the 12.7MW Shimane and the 12.5MW Matsuyama.

Shimane consumes around 83,000 t/yr of chips, which are made of unused domestic wood resources including timber from forest thinning, as well as 32,000 t/yr of imported palm kernel shells (PKS). The Matsuyama plant is burning 60,000 t/yr of domestically-produced chips and 45,000 t/yr of PKS.

Ene-Vision is owned 56.5pc by Japanese trading firm Toyota Tsusho and 26.1pc by Japanese farm machine and industrial engine manufacturer Yanmar. Engineering services firm Toyotsu Machinery and gas firm Toho Gas each have 8.7pc.