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Japanese JV Will Invest $935M in U.S. Power Projects

A joint venture of two Japanese energy companies reportedly plans to invest $935 million on U.S. power generation projects.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and Chubu Electric Power, through their JERA joint venture, would make the investment by 2030, according to Asian news reports. AsiaElec reported that JERA currently has about 3,000 MW of generation in North America, with 8,000 MW of net capacity outside Japan, including projects under construction.

AsiaElec said JERA would provide operations and maintenance for any U.S. gas-fired plants in which it invests. TEPCO and Chubu are Japan’s largest electric utilities. Their JERA joint venture was established in 2015; the name stands for Japan’s Energy for a New Era. The utilities’ foreign power generation businesses became part of JERA in July 2016.

TEPCO has told investors it is “pursuing various overseas power generation and investment projects, with the aim of achieving new growth and development by promoting business opportunities abroad.” JERA at present has investments in five U.S. natural gas-fired power plants as part of the Tenaska Gas Thermal IPP Project. It also has a stake in the Carroll County (Ohio) Gas Thermal IPP Project, and the Cricket Valley Gas Thermal IPP Projectin New York.

JERA also operates the Goreway Gas Thermal IPP Projectin Canada. Other countries in which it has projects include the Netherlands, Qatar, India, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Mexico, Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

Chubu in February said it would pay 335 billion yen ($3.13 billion) as a capital contribution to maintain its equal relationship with TEPCO in the joint venture. Chubu and TEPCO at that time also said they would integrate their 25 thermal power plants and other assets, including liquefied natural gas terminals, under the JERA umbrella in April 2019. That includes more than 66 GW of power generation in Japan, about half the country’s total capacity. At present, about two-thirds of that domestic generation capacity belongs to TEPCO.

Darrell Proctor is a POWER associate editor (@DarrellProctor1, @POWERmagazine)

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