Chairman Mikio Sasaki and ACCIONA Chairman & CEO Jos_ Manuel Entrecanales after signing the agreement in Madrid
Power plant run by Amper Central Solar in Portugal

On July 13, 2009, Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) and Spanish company ACCIONA S.A (ACCIONA), the world's largest leader in renewable energies, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, for a comprehensive strategic alliance. As a first step toward creating a strategic alliance, MC partnered with ACCIONA this March by acquiring a 34% stake in its Portugal-based subsidiary Amper Central Solar, which is the world's largest photovoltaic (PV) solar plant. Joint operations are now getting underway at the site in Moura in southern Portugal. The 45.8 megawatt project is recognized as having the world's largest solar photovoltaic generation capacity. The amount of power it can generate is roughly equivalent to the electricity used by 26,000 Japanese households in a year. At the same time, it is also expected to contribute to the reduction of about 89,000 tonnes of CO2 every year.
In the future, MC and ACCIONA will jointly develop and operate projects in renewable energy, including PV solar, wind power, solar thermal, and bio-energy. They will also pursue far-reaching collaboration in environmental business, including such areas as water management and treatment and sustainable construction and transportation. Through joint investment in projects and companies, the two partners are aiming to generate projects totaling some two billion Euros (approximately 260 billion yen).
In order to support the development of future business, MC and ACCIONA will engage in joint research and development focused on energy, water and infrastructure. They will also conduct staff exchanges and joint training programs. MC is intent on becoming a leading player in new energy and environmental businesses. This collaboration with ACCIONA should help in this aim, giving MC a solid partnership through which to leverage its industrial strength and global reach.

The i MiEV was also displayed at
MC's booth

Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) was awarded the grand prize at the International Nanotechnology Exhibition & Conference, which was held at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center from February 18 to 20. As the world's largest nanotechnology expo, the event attracts companies and research organizations from all over the world. This year, more than 600 companies and organizations from 21 countries and regions participated in the 8th holding of the exhibition, which was dubbed "nano tech 2009".
MC's exhibit was praised for "demonstrating the far-reaching capabilities of a general trading company by displaying concrete examples of uses for nanotechnology in environmental and energy fields, such as with electric vehicles and organic thin-film solar cells". MC has worked to develop nanotechnology for many years and this award is evidence that these efforts have been recognized internationally.

Top Screen of Application
Software Service for the
Construction Industry

ICT Service Business Unit A is involved in developing a collection of IT services for the construction industry called the "Kensetsu-Site Series". This series recently won the grand prize for an "advanced communications application" in the ASP/SaaS Category at the "ASP/SaaS/ICT Outsourcing Awards 2009". An Application Service Provider (ASP), which is also known as Software as a Service (SaaS), is a business model that provides applications that are used via the internet while charging a fee based on the amount of use. The market for these services is now rapidly expanding. This award is presented to companies that have developed outstanding business models or technologies, and it is considered the industry's top honor in Japan.
Since being introduced, the "Kensetsu-Site Series" has been used by Japan's top four construction companies and by approximately 10,000 of their subcontractors, at more than 8,000 construction projects nationwide.

SIGMAXYZ Inc., a business consulting services company, was established in May 2008 as a joint venture between MC and RHJ International to provide management support for clients by utilizing ICT.*As the challenges of business become more complex, the critical issue faced by many companies is how to integrate the components of business and technology in ways that maximize corporate value. While leveraging the business operation skills and know-how of the MC Group that encompass various business sectors and different types of operation, the new company helps to create and enhance the value of the clients by acting as an "aggregator," which involves integrating the components and skills of business and ICT in executing projects. Pursuing a business model centered on collaboration with client companies and business partners, SIGMAXYZ aims to expand, both in size and in quality, and ultimately reach to become an organization of some 2,000 employees.

*ICT = Information Communication Technology: IT (Information Technology) + CT (Communication Technology)

The core services offered by IT Frontier Corporation (ITF) are "enterprise system implementation capability" based on enterprise resource planning (ERP) and "IT management service" that provides highly reliable IT management. ITF becomes an "IT Parter for Clients' Success" and offers total support for the client's IT assets. Across the entire spectrum of the IT value chain-beginning with the proposal of IT strategies and plans, including system design and integration, implementation, outsourcing services and ending with the IT management of network services, etc.-ITF's services are organically connected in a way that makes it possible to provide unified and total support of integrated IT strategies that are inline with clients' business strategies.

Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) is currently developing its bio-pellet manufacturing and sales business. In Japan, it has established Forest Energy Hita Co, Ltd. in Oita Prefecture and Forest Energy Kadogawa Co, Ltd. in Miyazaki Prefecture. MC also has management participation in Vis Nova Trading GmbH, a German company and major player in the bio-pellet business, giving MC full-scale access to the European bio-pellet market, which is expected to grow.
Bio-pellets are cylindrical pellets made from materials such as bark and lumber off-cuts. This material is first pulverized and then, after regulating the water content, compressed into shape without the use of any chemical additives such as glues. They are a renewable energy source that is friendly to the global environment. By converting many types and forms of bio-resources into a standardized industrial product, it not only enables long-distance mass-volume transportation of unused bio-resources, it also makes storage easy. In Europe, bio-pellets are increasingly growing in demand as an alternative fuel to coal and fuel oil. Many jobs are being created by this new industry in forestry regions and it is expected to be a driving force behind a forestry revival.
MC's proactive pursuit of the bio-pellet manufacturing business in Japan and overseas is invigorating the forestry industry, contributing to regional communities and helping prevent global warming.

At Hokkaido Bioethanol, JA Group Hokkaido and Mitsubishi Corporation are playing a central role in advancing Japan's largest scale production facility in the bioethanol transportation fuel production business. The business has been authorized as one of the "Bioethanol Fuel Usage Model Demonstration Projects", part of a national project subsidized by the government, and aims to produce 15,000 kiloliters per year in Tokachi district of Hokkaido from April 2009.
Because plants that absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are the raw material of bioethanol fuel, it is considered a renewable energy source from the "natural power of the sun and the earth." Its use is expected to expand worldwide as one of the sustainable solutions for the prevention of global warming, now a global issue. Mitsubishi Corporation, starting with this project and focusing on bioethanol, biodiesel and biopellet fuels, is strengthening its efforts in the biofuel business.

On December 12, 2007, GS Yuasa Corporation, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation established joint venture company Lithium Energy Japan (LEJ) to manufacture and sell large-capacity and high-performance lithium-ion batteries.
As a measure against global warming, it is essential that the use and promotion of fossil fuel alternative energies and the further improvement of energy efficiency be pursued on a global scale. To realize these high aspirations on a global scale, these large lithium-ion batteries are an essential energy storage device and are expected to be used much more extensively in the future.
At present, the latent potential of large lithium-ion batteries has already been demonstrated across a wide spectrum of applications such as railway systems, aircraft, artificial satellites and deep ocean submersibles. Greater popularization and proliferation of large lithium-ion batteries will be the key to realizing the environmentally-friendly society that this age cries out for. As a first step towards achieving an environmentally-friendly society, LEJ opened a mass production plant in Kusatsu-shi, Shiga Prefecture (Shiga Plant) in August 2008 and aims to take a leading role in global industry, and steadily begin mass production of large lithium-ion batteries. Demonstrating how such environmental technologies as electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and energy regeneration systems can be incorporated into society, LEJ will popularize the use of large lithium-ion batteries and thus help bring us closer to realizing an environmentally-friendly society.

Fullerenes, the third carbon molecule found after graphite and diamonds, are spherical molecules made up of pentagonal and hexagonal rings. Because of their superior chemical, physical and optical properties, their potential applications are enormous. Fullerenes are expected to be utilized in applications as varied as carbon fiber compound materials, lubricants, semiconductors, organic devices, etc. In 1996, three scientists who discovered fullerenes were recognized for their achievement with the Nobel Prize for chemistry. But three years before that, having spotted the potential of this groundbreaking material, Mitsubishi Corporation began working with fullerenes. MC has established Fullerene International Corporation, which holds a composition of matter patent for fullerenes, and created Nanotech Partners, a private equity fund for identifying and investing in promising nano-technology projects. In 2001 we founded Frontier Carbon Corporation. Through the use of the production technology, intellectual property, sales strength and expertise of Mitsubishi Chemicals, Honjo Chemical Corporation, FIC, and MC, we have succeeded in the mass production of fullerences at low cost, which had long proven difficult with previous methods. Moreover, MC is looking to have a competitive advantage in the value chain by championing applications for fullerenes. One example of this is the establishment of Vitamin C60 Bio Research Corporation, a company which is looking to capitalize on the antioxidant properties of fullerenes to develop raw materials for cosmetics.

Mitsubishi Corporation, Hitachi, Ltd, and Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. took the initiative to establish "NBCI". When the group was formed, members from a wide variety of industries were sought, and as of April 2009, NBCI now has 260 member companies. NBCI is supporting broad collaboration amongst companies in different industries in an effort to commercialize nanotechnology, a field which is seen to be vital to enhancing Japan's level of international competitiveness.