Air Water, in conjunction with Chugoku Electric Power, is heading toward the construction of an electric power station employing biomass and coal co-combustion (about 100,000kW) in Hofu, Yamaguchi Prefecture, aiming at commencement of operation in 2018. On February 26 the 2 companies established a joint venture, with each putting up the capital. The purpose of the new company is to operate the power station and to market the power generated there.

The new company is called Air Water & Energia Power Yamaguchi, and involves an initial investment of 490 million to start up the company. Plans call for an increase in the amount of the investment when the station goes into operation. Air Water is putting up 51%, and Chugoku Electric Power the remaining 49%.

Air Water will construct the biomass and coal combined combustion electric power station on the premises of its Hofu Plant and get into the electric power business. Of the 110,000m2 of the Hofu Plant the new power plant will utilize about 40,000m2. Along with marketing the electric power produced as new power, they will also use it for in house consumption at their VSU liquid plants and at Air Water Bellpearl. The FIT system will also be applied to electric power stations using biomass as fuel.

The industrial gas industry which is an industry which consumes huge amounts of power. Since the incident at the nuclear power plant in 2011, it has been pressed to pursue rationalization in transportation and manufacturing as well as to undertake price revision to deal with increases in electric power costs. With these measures the industry has striven to insure profitability. With the opening of the new year there have been electric power companies which are again making pronouncements about price hikes. The situation will continue to be tough. Air Water too is faced with the same problems. To guard against the risk of future increases in electric power fees, the company intends to procure the electric power it consumes through its own resources.

The present combined combustion electric power station is one element to deal with the situation. In its group an electric power generation plant with an output of 16,500kW using a biomass has already started operating at the Ako plant of its affiliate Nihon Kaisui. The company would now like to carry out electric power generation projects at several locations.

At the new company, once preparations are made, steps will begin to evaluate the effects on the environment. Construction will start next year, aiming at commencement of operations in 2018.